There is no better proof of a man’s being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULDHowever rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.
More Francois de La Rochefoucauld Quotes
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That good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.
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The surest way to be deceived is to consider oneself cleverer than others.
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The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.
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The defects and faults of 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, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
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We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones.
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How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?
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We are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves.
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Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.
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We seldom find people ungrateful so long as it is thought we can serve them.
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In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors.
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However greatly we distrust the sincerity of those we converse with, yet still we think they tell more truth to us than to anyone else.
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On neither the sun, nor death, can a man look fixedly.
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Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company.
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A man’s worth has its season, like fruit.
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It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.
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Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.
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Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
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The word virtue is as useful to self-interest as the vices.
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All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones.
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Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.
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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?
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In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us.
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Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency.
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Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself.
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There are very few people who are not ashamed of having been in love when they no longer love each other.
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If we are to judge of love by its consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD