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Self-interest speaks all manner of tongues and plays all manner of parts, even that of disinterestedness.

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
Tongue
Parts
Interest
Disinterestedness
Speak
Tongues
Play
Bureaucracy
Self
Speaks
Even
Manner
Plays

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Fortune cures us of many faults that reason could not.
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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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When we enlarge upon the affection our friends have for us, this is very often not so much out of a sense of gratitude as from a desire to persuade people of our own great worth, that can deserve so much kindness.
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The person giving the advice returns the confidence placed in him with a disinterested eagerness... and he is usually guided only by his own interest or reputation.
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Our enemies' opinion of us comes closer to the truth than our own.
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Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.
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Numberless arts appear foolish whose secret motives are most wise and weighty.
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