Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Most people know no other way of judging men’s worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Nature seems at each man’s birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Goodness without that power is generally nothing more than sloth, or an impotence of will. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Nothing hinders a thing from being natural so much as the straining ourselves to make it seem so. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Nothing is so contagious as example; and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Nothing prevents one from appearing natural as the desire to appear natural. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Old men are fond of giving good advice to console themselves for their inability to give bad examples. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Our concern for the loss of our friends is not always from a sense of their worth — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Our virtues are often, in reality, no better than vices disguised. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
People always complain about their memories, never about their minds. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
People that are conceited of their own merit take pride in being unfortunate — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
People’s personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Perfect valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before everyone. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Philosophy finds it an easy matter to vanquish past and future evils, but the present are commonly too hard for it. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Pride, which inspires us with so much envy, is sometimes of use toward the moderating of it too. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Silence is the safest course for any man to adopt who distrust himself. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI
Some people displease with merit, and others’ very faults and defects are pleasing. — Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Francois VI