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If we took as much pains to be what we ought, as we do to deceive others by disguising what we are we might appear as we are, without being at the trouble of any disguise.

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
Trouble
Disguising
Pain
Deceive
Others
Pains
Might
Deceiving
Without
Disguise
Much
Appear
Took
Ought

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Our self-love can less bear to have our tastes than our opinions condemned.
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Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
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The contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune, by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them it was a secret to guard themselves against the degradation of poverty, it was a back way by which to arrive at that distinction which they could not gain by riches.
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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.]
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It is much better to learn to deal with the ills we have now than to speculate on those that may befall us.
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Those only are despicable who fear to be despised.
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It is often hard to determine whether a clear, open, and honorable proceeding is the result of goodness or of cunning.
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Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
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Even women are perfect at the outset.
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Youth changes its tastes by the warmth of its blood age retains its tastes by habit.
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For envy, like lightning, generally strikes at the top Or any point which sticks out from the ordinary level. LUCRETIUS, De Rerum Natura Our envy always outlives the felicity of its object.
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The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acpuire it.
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Cunning and treachery are the offspring of incapacity.
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It is with sincere affection or friendship as with ghosts and apparitions,--a thing that everybody talks of, and scarce any hath seen.
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When our hatred is too alive puts us below what we hate.
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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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That which makes the vanity of others unbearable to us is that which wounds our own.
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The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.
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