Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Francois de La Rochefoucauld (French Writer)

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) was a French classical author and moralist. He was the leading exponent of the maxime, a French literary form of epigram that expresses a harsh or paradoxical truth with demonstrated clarity and brevity.

Born in Paris, La Rochefoucauld didn’t receive much formal education; instead, he was a student of human nature. He became a public figure after he joined the army, and then a leading member of the Fronde, a series of disputes between the French nobility and the monarchy of Louis XIV.

Despite all his political activities, La Rochefoucauld is best remembered for his writing. He translated his observances into a collection of cynical epigrams, which he called Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes Morales (1665.) He published this first edition anonymously, but subsequent editions under his name. He published four more editions of Maximes in his lifetime, eventually writing more than 500 epigrammatic reflections analyzing human conduct, and finding self-interest to be its driving force.

Though he did a considerable amount of writing over the years, La Rochefoucauld published only one other work—a surreptitious edition of Mémoires (1662;) it conveyed wide offense, and he denied its authorship. Besides, about 150 letters have been collected and 19 shorter pieces now known as Réflexions diverses.

La Rochefoucauld was admired by all the great French critics of the 19th century. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was influenced by not only his ethics but also his literary style.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The height of cleverness is being able to conceal it.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Humility, Modesty

It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Growth

We are nearer loving those who hate us than those who love us more than we wish.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Love

When a man finds no peace within himself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Peace

Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Jealousy

One forgives to the degree that one loves.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Forgiveness

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Death

He is not a reasonable man who by chance stumbles upon reason, but he who derives it from knowledge, from discernment, and from taste.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Reason

As we grow old we become both more foolish and more wise.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Age

The passions are the only orators who never fail to persuade.—They are nature’s art of eloquence, the rules of which never fail; and the weakest man, moved by passion, is more eloquent than the strongest who has none.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Enthusiasm, Passion

The labor of the body frees us from the pains of the mind, and thus makes the poor happy.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: The Body

Perfect virtue is to do unwitnessed what we should be capable of doing before all the world.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Virtue

It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Desire, Desires

To safeguard one’s health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome illness indeed.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Diet

In the intercourse of life, we please more by our faults than by our good qualities.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Faults

Absence lessens half-hearted passions, and increases great ones, as the wind puts out candles and yet stirs up the fire.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Romance, Love, Absence

What causes us to like new acquaintances is not so much weariness of our old ones, or the pleasure of change, as disgust at not being sufficiently admired by those who know us too well, and the hope of being admired more by those who do not know so much about us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Friendship

Fortune and humor govern the world.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Humor

We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Advice, Profit

Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire of appearing so.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Style, Appearance, Manners, Desire

To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Listening

To know how to hide one’s ability is great skill.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Ability

The constancy of sages is nothing but the art of locking up their agitation in their hearts.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Wisdom, Self-Control

As love increases, prudence diminishes.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Love

Idleness is more an infirmity of the mind than of the body.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Idleness

It is a wearisome disease to preserve health by too strict a regimen.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Health

Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: One liners, Hypocrisy

The common foible of women who have been handsome is to forget that they are no longer so.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Women, Beauty

There are few good women who do not tire of their role.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Goodness

Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Topics: Hope

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