François La Rochefoucauld, Duc De

"Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them."

"Self-love has nowhere a greater share, nor is more predominant in any passion, than in that love; and men are always more disposed to sacrifice all the ease and comfort of them they love than to part with any degree of their own."


"We all have strength enough to bear the misfortunes of others."


"There are but very few men clever enough to know all the mischief they do. "


"Self-love is the greatest flatterer in the world."


"The accent of a man's native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech."


"Self-love is the love of a man's own self, and of everything else for his own sake. It makes people idolaters to themselves, and tyrants to all the world besides."


"There are wicked men who would be much less dangerous if they had not some goodness."


"Silence is the best security to the man who distrusts himself."


"Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that have not wit enough to be honest."


"When a man is in love, he doubts, very often, what he most firmly believes."


"When a man must force himself to be faithful in his love, this is hardly better than unfaithfulness."


"We confess our faults that our sincerity might repair the harm those faults themselves have done us in the esteem of others."


"We often brag that we are never bored with ourselves, and are so vain as never to think ourselves bad company."


"A man's worth has its season, like fruit."


"A respectable man may love madly, but not foolishly."


"The desire to be thought clever often prevents a man from becoming so."


"What makes us so angry with those that have tricked us, is that they think themselves cleverer than ourselves."



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"Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of."


"True bravery means doing alone that which one could do if all the world were by."


"When the soul is ruffled by the remains of one passion, it is more disposed to entertain a new one than when it is entirely cured and at rest from all."


"Absence cools moderate passions, and inflames violent ones; just as the wind blows out candles, but kindles fires."


"Innocence does not find near so much protection as guilt."


"What makes us so angry with those that have tricked us, is that they think themselves cleverer than ourselves."


"It is almost always a fault of one who loves not to realize when he ceases to be loved."


"The force we use on ourselves, to prevent ourselves from loving, is often more cruel than the severest treatment at the hands of one loved."


"In her first passions a woman loves her lover, but later she loves love itself."