Quote

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.

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
Come
Misfortunes
Men
Wit
Present
Lying
Foreseeing
Upon
Wits
Future
Bearing
May
Hereafter
Better
Employed

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Hope is the last thing that dies in man and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this good use to us, that while we are traveling through life it conducts us in an easier and more pleasant way to our journey's end.
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The sure mark of one born with noble qualities is being born without envy.
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In infants, levity is a prettiness in men a shameful defect but in old age, a monstrous folly.
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It is with true love as it is with ghosts everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
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The judgments our enemies make about us come nearer to the truth than those we make about ourselves.
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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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As we grow older, we increase in folly--and in wisdom.
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On why I don't trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability and recall What seems to be generosity is often only disguised ambition - which despises small interests to gain great ones.
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We acknowledge that we should not talk of our wives but we seem not to know that we should talk still less of ourselves.
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When the soul is ruffled by the remains of one passion, it is more disposed to entertain a new one than when it is entirely curedand at rest from all.
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All who know their own minds know not their own hearts.
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The one thing people are the most liberal with, is their advice.
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Commonplace minds usually condemn what is beyond the reach of their understanding.
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However we may conceal our passions under the veil ... there is always some place where they peep out.
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Of all our faults, the one we avow most easily is idleness we persuade ourselves that it is allied to all the peaceable virtues,and as for the others, that it does not destroy them utterly, but only suspends the exercise of their functions.
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If one judges love by the majority of its effects, it is more like hatred than like friendship.
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Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.
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Nothing should lessen our satisfaction with ourselves as much as when we notice that we disapprove of something at one time that we approve of at another time.
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It is easier to rule others than to keep from being ruled oneself.
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Few things are impossible in themselves: application to make them succeed fails us more often than the means.
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