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I do not approve the maxim which desires a man to know a little of everything. Superficial knowledge, knowledge without principles, is almost always useless and sometimes harmful knowledge.

Luc de Clapiers

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Luc de Clapiers
Age: 31 †
Born: 1715
Born: August 6
Died: 1747
Died: May 28
Essayist
Military Personnel
Philosopher
Writer
Aix
Always
Almost
Maxim
Men
Knowledge
Approve
Desire
Harmful
Littles
Maxims
Little
Superficial
Everything
Desires
Without
Useless
Sometimes
Principles

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We don't have enough time to premeditate our actions.
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We are so presumptuous that we think we can separate our personal interest from that of humanity, and slander mankind without compromising ourselves.
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Obscurity is the kingdom of error.
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The wicked are always surprised to find that the good can be clever.
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None are more liable to mistakes than those who act only on second thoughts.
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A new principle is an inexhaustible source of new views.
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To withdraw ourselves from the law of the strong, we have found ourselves obliged to submit to justice. Justice or might, we must choose between these two masters.
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Despair puts the last touch not only to our misery but also to our weakness.
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The law cannot equalize mankind in spite of nature.
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All erroneous ideas would perish of their own accord if given clear expression.
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The lazy are always wanting to do something.
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We can console ourselves for not having great talents as we console ourselves for not having great places. We can be above both in our hearts.
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If a man is endowed with a noble and courageous soul, if he is painstaking, proud, ambitious, without meanness, of a profound a deep-seated intelligence, I dare assert that he lacks nothing to be neglected by the great and men in high office, who fear, more than other men, those whom they cannot dominate.
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The art of pleasing is the art of deception.
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One can not be just if one is not humane.
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Servitude degrades people to such a point that they come to like it.
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A man who love only himself and his pleasures is vain, presumptuous, and wicked even from principle.
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The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures.
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Newton, Pascal, Bossuet, Racine, F?nelon -- that is to say, some of the most enlightened men on earth, in the most philosophical of all ages -- have been believers in Jesus Christ and the great Cond?, when dying, repeated these noble words, Yes, I shall see God as He is, face to face!.
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Men dissimulate their dearest, most constant, and most virtuous inclination from weakness and a fear of being condemned.
Luc de Clapiers