Quote

Perseverance is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy for it seems to be only the enduring of certain inclinations and opinions which men neither give themselves nor take away from themselves.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Certain
Continuity
Seems
Inclination
Give
Perseverance
Take
Opinions
Blameworthy
Giving
Endure
Inclinations
Men
Neither
Praiseworthy
Opinion
Constancy
Away
Enduring

More quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Image
Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
More men are guilty of treason through weakness than any studied design to betray.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
The intellect is always fooled by the heart.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Fortune and humor govern the world.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Nothing ought more to humiliate men who have merited great praise than the care they still take to boast of little things.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
We come altogether fresh and raw into the several stages of life, and often find ourselves without experience, despite our years.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
We are not fond of praising, and never praise any one except from interested motives. Praise is a clever, concealed, and delicate flattery, which gratifies in different ways the giver and the receiver. The one takes it as a recompense of his merit, and the other bestows it to display his equity and discernment.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
He who imagines he can do without the world deceives himself much but he who fancies the world cannot do without him is still more mistaken.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Our concern for the loss of our friends is not always from a sense of their worth, but rather of our own need of them and that we have lost some who had a good opinion of us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Raillery is more insupportable than wrong because we have a right to resent injuries, but are ridiculous in being angry at a jest.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
History never embraces more than a small part of reality
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
In misfortune we often mistake dejection for constancy we bear it without daring to look on it like cowards, who suffer themselves to be murdered without resistance.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Our good qualities expose us more to hatred and persecution than all the ill we do.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
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.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
Wisdom is the mind what health is to the body.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
One of the greatest and also the commonest of faults is for men to believe that, because they never hear their shortcomings spoken of, or read about them in cold print, others can have no knowledge of them. GEORG CHRISTOPH LICHTENBERG, The Reflections of Lichtenberg We are often more agreeable through our faults than our good qualities.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Image
The only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld