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To awaken a man who is deceived as to his own merit is to do him as bad a turn as that done to the Athenian madman who was happy in believing that all the ships touching at the port belonged to him.

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
Men
Believing
Athenians
Ships
Madman
Merit
Belonged
Turn
Madmen
Turns
Awaken
Happy
Port
Done
Deceived
Believe
Touching
Athenian

More quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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To be a great man it is necessary to turn to account all opportunities.
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There is merit without rank, but there is no rank without some merit.
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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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Old people are fond of giving good advice it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example.
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Of all the violent passions, the one that becomes a woman best is love.
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Happy people rarely correct their faults they consider themselves vindicated, since fortune endorses their evil ways.
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There are certain people fated to be fools they not only commit follies by choice, but are even constrained to do so by fortune.
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People are often vain of their passions, even of the worst, but envy is a passion so timid and shame-faced that no one ever dare avow her.
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We are very far from always knowing our own wishes.
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Some men are like ballads, that are in everyone's mouth a little while.
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We often see malefactors, when they are led to execution, put on resolution and a contempt of death which, in truth, is nothing else but fearing to look it in the face--so that this pretended bravery may very truly be said to do the same good office to their mind that the blindfold does to their eyes.
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We take less pains to be happy, than to appear so.
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In the human heart new passions are forever being born the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.
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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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The greatest of all gifts is the power to estimate things at their true worth
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Our hopes, often though they deceive us, lead us pleasantly along the path of life.
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One man may be more cunning than another, but no one can be more cunning than all the world.
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It appears that nature has hid at the bottom of our hearts talents and abilities unknown to us. It is only the passions that have the power of bringing them to light, and sometimes give us views more true and more perfect than art could possibly do.
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The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.
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The rust of business is sometimes polished off in a camp but never in a court.
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