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Folly pursues us at all periods of our lives. If someone seems wise it is only because his follies are proportionate to his age and fortune.
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
Periods
Wise
Proportionate
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Age
Follies
Lives
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Seems
Errors
Fortune
More quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
When a man must force himself to be faithful in his love, this is hardly better than unfaithfulness.
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We often make use of envenomed praise, that reveals on the rebound, as it were, defects in those praised which we dare not exposeany other way.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We speak little if not egged on by vanity.
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One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Some weak people are so sensible of their weakness as to be able to make a good use of it.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
There are follies as catching as contagious disorders.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
On why I don't trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability and recall What seems to be generosity is often only disguised ambition - which despises small interests to gain great ones.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
What makes false reckoning, as regards gratitude, is that the pride of the giver and the receiver cannot agree as to the value of the benefit.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
There is no accident so unfortunate but wise men will make some advantage of it, nor any so entirely fortunate but fools may turn it to their own prejudice.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done. [Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie maid on ne hait que a maniere de flatter.]
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The trust that we put in ourselves makes us feel trust in others.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
A man may be sharper than another, but not than all others.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We rarely ever perceive others as being sensible, except for those who agree with us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
A wise man should order his interests, and set them all in their proper places. This order is often troubled by greed, which putsus upon pursuing so many things at once that, in eagerness for matters of less consideration, we grasp at trifles, and let go things of greater value.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
One kind of happiness is to know exactly at what point to be miserable.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Whatever pretended causes we may blame our afflictions upon, it is often nothing but self-interest and vanity that produce them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Few things are impossible in themselves: application to make them succeed fails us more often than the means.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We often boast that we are never bored but yet we are so conceited that we do not perceive how often we bore others.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We often see malefactors, when they are led to execution, put on resolution and a contempt of death which, in truth, is nothing else but fearing to look it in the face--so that this pretended bravery may very truly be said to do the same good office to their mind that the blindfold does to their eyes.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld