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We often select envenomed praise which, by a reaction upon those we praise, shows faults we could not have shown by other means.

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
Praise
Upon
Means
Often
Select
Shows
Shown
Mean
Reaction
Reactions
Faults

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The reason that lovers never weary each other is because they are always talking about themselves.
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That which makes the vanity of others unbearable to us is that which wounds our own.
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The applause we give those who are new to society often proceeds from a secret envying of those already established.
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To praise great actions with sincerity may be said to be taking part in them.
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Very few people are acquainted with death. They undergo it, commonly, not so much out of resolution as custom and insensitivity and most men die because they cannot help it.
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Love is one and the same in the original but there are a thousand different copies of it.
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We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done. [Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie maid on ne hait que a maniere de flatter.]
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Self-interest speaks all manner of tongues and plays all manner of parts, even that of disinterestedness.
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There are follies as catching as contagious disorders.
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Selfishness is the grand moving principle of nine-tenths of our actions.
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We forgive just so long as we love.
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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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If we have not peace within ourselves, it is in vain to seek it from outward sources.
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We should manage our fortune as we do our health - enjoy it when good, be patient when it is bad, and never apply violent remedies except in an extreme necessity
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What makes false reckoning, as regards gratitude, is that the pride of the giver and the receiver cannot agree as to the value of the benefit.
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We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.
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Whatever good things people say of us, they tell us nothing new.
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Men are often so foolish as to boast and value themselves upon their passions, even those that are most vicious. But envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame that no one every ever had the confidence to own it.
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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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The happiness and unhappiness of men depends as much on their ethics as on fortune.
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