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

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

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One forgives to the degree that one loves.
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There are certain defects which, well-mounted, glitter like virtue itself.
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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.
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Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.
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However greatly we distrust the sincerity of those we converse with, yet still we think they tell more truth to us than to anyone else.
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The rust of business is sometimes polished off in a camp but never in a court.
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We had better appear what we are, than affect to appear what we are not.
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Even the most disinterested love is, after all, but a kind of bargain, in which self-love always proposes to be the gainer one wayor another.
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Great men should not have great faults.
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If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.
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In all professions each affects a look and an exterior to appear what he wishes the world to believe that he is. Thus we may say that the whole world is made up of appearances.
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Self-love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them and we judge of their merit by the manner in which they act towards us.
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Passion often renders the most clever man a fool, and sometimes renders the most foolish man clever.
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He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
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Nature makes merit, and fortune puts it to work.
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We should wish for few things with eagerness, if we perfectly knew the nature of that which was the object of our desire.
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Sobriety is love of health, or inability to eat much.
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We love much better those who endeavor to imitate us, than those who strive to equal us. For imitation is a sign of esteem, but competition of envy.
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We feel good and ill only in proportion to our self-love.
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