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Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Age: 66 †
Born: 1613
Born: September 15
Died: 1680
Died: March 17
Memoirist
Military Personnel
Writer
Paris
France
François VI
Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Prince de Marcillac
François
Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Though
Chance
Often
Exalt
Truth
Flatter
Great
Owing
Much
Achievements
Men
Achievement
Design
More quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
There are many predicaments in life that one must be a bit crazy to escape from.
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Men more easily renounce their interests than their tastes.
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In order to succeed in the world people do their upmost to appear successful.
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We forgive just so long as we love.
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That conduct often seems ridiculous the secret reasons of which are wise and solid.
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The health of the soul is something we can be no more sure of than that of the body and though a man may seem far from the passions, yet he is in as much danger of falling into them as one in a perfect state of health of having a fit of sickness.
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One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.
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A man often imagines that he acts, when he is acted upon.
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Men never desire anything very eagerly which they desire only by the dictates of reason.
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We often in our misfortunes take that for constancy and patience which is only dejection of mind we suffer without daring to holdup our heads, just as cowards let themselves be knocked on the head because they have not courage to strike back.
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Eloquence resides as much in the tone of voice, in the eyes, and in the expression of the face, as in the choice of words.
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Those who are condemned to death affect sometimes a constancy and contempt for death which is only the fear of facing it so that one may say that this constancy and contempt are to their mind what the bandage is to their eyes.
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Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead.
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There are no circumstances, however unfortunate, that clever people do not extract some advantage from.
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There is a form of eminence which does not depend on fate it is an air which sets us apart and seems to prtend great things it is the value which we unconsciously attach to ourselves it is the quality which wins us deference of others more than birth, position, or ability, it gives us ascendance.
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Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself.
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The wind which snuffs the candle fans the fire.
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It is as easy to deceive one's self without perceiving it, as it is difficult to deceive others without their finding out.
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Most people judge men by their success or their good fortune.
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History never embraces more than a small part of reality
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