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To be a great man it is necessary to turn to account all opportunities.

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
Opportunities
Accounts
Necessary
Turn
Turns
Opportunity
Great
Men
Account

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Moderation is caused by the fear of exciting the envy and contempt which those merit who are intoxicated with their good fortune it is a vain display of our strength of mind, and in short the moderation of men at their greatest height is only a desire to appear greater than their fortune.
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Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
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We have not strength enough to follow our reason so far as it would carry us.
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Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady.
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Men are not only prone to forget benefits they even hate those who have obliged them, and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury, or of recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.
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What often prevents our abandoning ourselves to a single vice is, our having more than one.
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Our desires always disappoint us for though we meet with something that gives us satisfaction, yet it never thoroughly answers our expectation. [However disappointment can always be removed if we remember it could have turned out worse.]
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Wisdom is the mind what health is to the body.
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Flattery is a counterfeit money which, but for vanity, would have no circulation.
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Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.
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Were we perfectly acquainted with the object, we should never passionately desire it.
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Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
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Considering how little the beginning or the ceasing to love is in our own power, it is foolish and unreasonable for the lover or his mistress to complain of one another's inconstancy.
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He who lives without committing any folly is not so wise as he thinks. [Fr., Qui vit sans folie n'est pas si sage qu'il croit.]
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A good woman is a hidden treasure who discovers her will do well not to boast about it.
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It is not expedient or wise to examine our friends too closely few persons are raised in our esteem by a close examination.
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We often bore others when we think we cannot possibly bore them.
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There are few people who are more often in the wrong than those who cannot endure to be so.
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When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
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Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.
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