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We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.
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
Perfectly
Passion
Knowledge
Desire
Nature
Things
Passionately
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A man's wits are better employed in bearing up under the misfortunes that lie upon him at present than in foreseeing those that may come upon him hereafter.
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When a man must force himself to be faithful in his love, this is hardly better than unfaithfulness.
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Reconciliation with our enemies is simply a desire to better our condition, a weariness of war, or the fear of some unlucky thing from occurring.
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If we did not have pride, we would not complain of it in others.
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Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
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Esteem never makes ingrates.
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The appearances of goodness and merit often meet with a greater reward from the world than goodness and merit themselves.
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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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If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.
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It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.
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No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so.
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Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead.
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Sometimes there are accidents in our lives the skillful extrication from which demands a little folly.
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Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before everyone.
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Vices are ingredients of virtues just as poisons are ingredients of remedies. Prudence mixes and tempers them and uses them effectively against life's ills.
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In the human heart one generation of passions follows another from the ashes of one springs the spark of the next.
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As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.
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It is easier to deceive yourself, and to do so unperceived, than to deceive another.
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It is difficult to like those whom we do not esteem but it is no less so to like those whom we esteem more than ourselves.
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Ability wins us the esteem of the true men luck, that of the people.
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