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Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives.
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
Lying
Weighty
Thought
Motives
Many
Motive
Acts
Ridiculous
Behinds
Behind
Wise
More quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld
All our qualities, whether good or bad, are unstable and ambiguous, and almost all are at the mery of chance.
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Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.
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Sometimes there are accidents in our lives the skillful extrication from which demands a little folly.
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When the soul is ruffled by the remains of one passion, it is more disposed to entertain a new one than when it is entirely curedand at rest from all.
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Were we perfectly acquainted with the object, we should never passionately desire it.
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A man's happiness or unhappiness depends as much on his temperament as on his destiny.
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Fortune turns all things to the advantage of those on whom she smiles.
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The moderation of fortunate people comes from the calm which good fortune gives to their tempers.
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We seldom find any person of good sense, except those who share our opinions.
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The applause we give those who are new to society often proceeds from a secret envying of those already established.
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There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious through their splendor, number and excess.
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To establish ourselves in the world, we have to do all we can to appear established. To succeed in the world, we do everything we can to appear successful.
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The cunningest dissimulation is when a man pretends to be caught in the traps others set for him and a man is never so easily over-reached as when he is contriving to over-reach others.
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We come altogether fresh and raw into the several stages of life, and often find ourselves without experience, despite our years.
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No one thinks fortune so blind as those she has been least kind to.
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What renders other people's vanity insufferable is that it wounds our own.
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We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it is a symmetry whose rules are unknown.
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We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.
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It is far better to be deceived than undeceived by those whom we tenderly love.
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Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or turns absolute madness.
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