The sort of liveliness which increases with age is not far distant from madness.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld Quotations
We found 55 matching quotations.
We always like those who admire us we do not always like those whom we admire.
Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it.
It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.
We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.
We often do good in order that we may do evil with impunity.
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it.
We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.
The defects of the understanding, like those of the face, grow worse as we grow old.
We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.
Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.
Jealousy feeds upon suspicion, and it turns into fury or it ends as soon as we pass from suspicion to certainty.
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Nothing is less sincere than our mode of asking and giving advice. He who asks seems to have a deference for the opinion of his friend, while he only aims to get approval of his own and make his friend responsible for his action. And he who gives advice repays the confidence supposed to be placed in him by a seemingly disinterested zeal, while he seldom means anything by his advice but his own interest or reputation.
He who lives without folly is not so wise as he imagines.
Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.
If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.
Vanity makes us do more things against inclination than reason.
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
To establish oneself in the world, one has to do all one can to appear established.
In jealousy there is more of self-love, than of love to another.
Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.
Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range.
We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.
No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence.
To be deceived by our enemies or betrayed by our friends in insupportable; yet by ourselves we are often content to be so treated.
Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.
What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.
The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth to much of that which we have in others.
We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion.
To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
There are very few women in society whose virtue outlasts their beauty.
Small minds are much distressed by little things. Great minds see them all but are not upset by them.
Few are agreeable in conversation, because each thinks of what he intends to say than of what others are saying, and listens no more when he himself has a chance to speak.
The pleasure of love is in loving.
We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.
Old people like to give good advice, as solace for no longer being able to provide bad examples.
We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.
We should manage our fortunes 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.
The most dangerous folly of old people who were once attractive is to forget that they are not so any longer.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
When we are unable to find tranquillity within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
The man whom no one pleases is much more unhappy than the man who pleases no one.
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.
Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady.
The truest mark of being born with great qualities, is being born without envy.
The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.