Authors - Francois Rochefoucauld
Brief Biography
Francois VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (15 September 1613 - 17 March 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. The view of human conduct his writings describe has been summed up by the words "everything is reducible to the motive of self-interest", though the term "gently cynical" has also been applied. Born in Paris in the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court was oscillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplar of the accomplished 17th-century nobleman. Until 1650, he bore the title of Prince de Marcillac. - Wikipedia
Quotes by Francois RochefoucauldBrowse all of these
Quote 5683by Anonymous on 18/08/2011
No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
Quote 5717by Anonymous on 21/08/2011
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.
Quote 6014by Anonymous on 12/09/2011
Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.
Quote 6023by Anonymous on 12/09/2011
To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
Quote 6121by Anonymous on 14/09/2011
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.
Quote 6189by Anonymous on 16/09/2011
We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.
Quote 6570by Anonymous on 29/09/2011
One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.
Quote 6659by Anonymous on 03/10/2011
The defects and faults in the mind are like wounds in the body. After all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind.
Quote 6894by Anonymous on 13/10/2011
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.
Quote 7014by Anonymous on 15/10/2011
Jealousy feeds upon suspicion, and it turns into fury or it ends as soon as we pass from suspicion to certainty.
Quote 7112by Anonymous on 22/10/2011
When we are unable to find tranquillity within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Quote 7754by Anonymous on 05/02/2012
Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice.
Quote 7775by Anonymous on 08/02/2012
There are few virtuous women who are not bored with their trade.
