One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDOne can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDBefore we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDThe virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDWe are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDIt is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDIf we are to judge of love by its consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDGreat souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDThat good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDThe only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDWhat makes the pain we feel from shame and jealousy so cutting is that vanity can give us no assistance in bearing them.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDGracefulness is to the body what understanding is to the mind.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDWe are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDFuneral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDA wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDWe would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDJealousy lives upon doubts. It becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD