Quotes by La Rochefoucauld

It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Old people like to give good advice, as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

We often forgive those who bore us, but never those whom we bore.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.

— La Rochefoucauld

Love

The confidence which we have in ourselves engenders the greatest part of that which we have in others.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Perfect courage is todo without witnesses what one would be capable of doing before all the world.

— La Rochefoucauld

Courage

We confess to little faults only to persuade others that we have no great ones.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

The greatest miracle of love is the cure of coquetry.

— La Rochefoucauld

Love

A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and the one that we take the least care of all to acquire.

— La Rochefoucauld

Friendship

What is called liberality is often merely the vanity of giving.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

The gratitude of most men is nothing but a secret desire to receive greater benefits.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

One is never as happy or as unhappy as one thinks.

— La Rochefoucauld

Happiness

It is a wearisome illness to preserve one's health by too strict a regimen.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Plenty of people want to be pious, but no one yearns to be humble.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it.

— La Rochefoucauld

Love

Everyone complains of hismemory, and no one complains of his judgment.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

If we judge of love by its usual effects, it resembles hatred more than friendship.

— La Rochefoucauld

Love

It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks of it, but few have seen it.

— La Rochefoucauld

Love

Men have made a virtue of moderation to limit the ambition of the great, and to console people of mediocrity for their want of fortune and of merit.

— La Rochefoucauld

Wisdom

If we resist our passions, it is more from their weakness than from our strength.

— La Rochefoucauld

Courage