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We love much better those who endeavor to imitate us, than those who strive to equal us. For imitation is a sign of esteem, but competition of envy.

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
Esteem
Sign
Strive
Competition
Equal
Imitate
Better
Imitation
Much
Endeavor
Love
Envy

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We say little, when vanity does not make us speak.
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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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We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.
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Magnanimity is sufficiently defined by its name, nevertheless one can say it is the good sense of pride, the most noble way of receiving praise.
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We have not strength enough to follow our reason so far as it would carry us.
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The mind is always the patsy of the heart.
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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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Our self-love can less bear to have our tastes than our opinions condemned.
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The caprice of our temper is even more whimsical than that of Fortune.
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Men never desire anything very eagerly which they desire only by the dictates of reason.
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Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
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The desire of appearing clever often prevents our becoming so.
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Sincerity is an openness of heart we find it in very few people what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.
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Our probity is not less at the mercy of fortune than our property.
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The prospect of being pleased tomorrow will never console me for the boredom of today.
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In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge.
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We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no big ones.
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The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.
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