Top 500 François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes (2024 Update)
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451. “The name and pretense of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

452. “In the human heart one generation of passions follows another; from the ashes of one springs the spark of the next.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

453. “The generality of men have, like plants, latent properties, which chance brings to light.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

454. “All women seem by nature to be coquettes.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

455. “Novelty is to love like bloom to fruit; it gives a luster which is easily effaced, but never returns.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

456. “We judge so superficially of things, that common words and actions spoke and done in an agreeable manner, with some knowledge of what passes in the world, often succeed beyond the greatest ability.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

457. “Men are often so foolish as to boast and value themselves upon their passions, even those that are most vicious. But envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame that no one every ever had the confidence to own it.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

458. “We are always bored by the very people by whom it is vital not to be bored.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

459. “Those who most obstinately oppose the most widely-held opinions more often do so because of pride than lack of intelligence. They find the best places in the right set already taken, and they do not want back seats.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

460. “The confidence which we have in ourselves give birth to much of that, which we have in others.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

461. “It is most difficult to speak when we are ashamed of being silent.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

462. “As love increases, prudence diminishes.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

463. “Heat of blood makes young people change their inclinations often, and habit makes old ones keep to theirs a great while.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

464. “It is pointless for a woman to be young unless pretty, or to be pretty unless young.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

465. “Men never desire anything very eagerly which they desire only by the dictates of reason.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

466. “Sometimes, occasions occur in life which demand you to be a little foolish in order to skillfully extricate yourself.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

467. “It is worth nothing to be young without being beautiful, nor to be beautiful without being young.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

468. “If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

469. “Love, like fire, cannot subsist without constant impulse; it ceases to live from the moment it ceases to hope or to fear.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

470. “There are certain people fated to be fools; they not only commit follies by choice, but are even constrained to do so by fortune.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

471. “Women in love sooner forgive great indiscretions than small infidelities.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

472. “High fortune makes both our virtues and vices stand out as objects that are brought clearly to view by the light.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

473. “We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

474. “Female gossips are generally actuated by active ignorance.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

475. “Many young persons believe themselves natural when they are only impolite and coarse.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

476. “The mark of extraordinary merit is to see those most envious of it constrained to praise.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

477. “It often happens that things come into the mind in a more finished form than could have been achieved after much study.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

478. “Nothing is rarer than true good nature; they who are reputed to have it are generally only pliant or weak.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

479. “In misfortune we often mistake dejection for constancy; we bear it without daring to look on it; like cowards, who suffer themselves to be murdered without resistance.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

480. “Our repentances are generally not so much a concern and remorse for the harm we have done, as a fear of the harm we may have brought upon ourselves.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

481. “Tricks and treachery are merely proofs of lack of skill.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

482. “Moderation is the feebleness and sloth of the soul, whereas ambition is the warmth and activity of it.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

483. “A man cannot please long who has only one kind of wit.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

484. “Fancy sets the value on the gifts of fortune.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

485. “The appearances of goodness and merit often meet with a greater reward from the world than goodness and merit themselves.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

486. “There is something to be said for jealousy, because it only designs the preservation of some good which we either have or think wehave a right to. But envy is a raging madness that cannot bear the wealth or fortune of others.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

487. “The extreme delight we experience in talking about ourselves should warn us that those who listen do not share it.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

488. “There are few occasions when we should make a bad bargain by giving up the good on condition that no ill was said of us.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

489. “What is perfectly true is perfectly witty.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

490. “Few know how to be old.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

491. “It is with sincere affection or friendship as with ghosts and apparitions, – a thing that everybody talks of, and scarce any hath seen.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

492. “The reason we do not let our friends see the very bottom of our hearts is not so much distrust of them as distrust of ourselves.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

493. “We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it consists in a symmetry of which we know not the rules, and a secret conformity of the features to each other, as also to the air and complexion of the person.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

494. “It is easier for a man to be thought fit for an employment that he has not, than for one he stands already possessed of, and is exercising.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

495. “We come altogether fresh and raw into the several stages of life, and often find ourselves without experience, despite our years.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

496. “The moderation of people in prosperity is the effect of a smooth and composed temper, owing to the calm of their good fortune.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

497. “When we enlarge upon the affection our friends have for us, this is very often not so much out of a sense of gratitude as from a desire to persuade people of our own great worth, that can deserve so much kindness.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

498. “Affected simplicity is an elegant imposture.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

499. “The heart of man ever finds a constant succession of passions, so that the destroying and pulling down of one proves generally tobe nothing else but the production and the setting up of another.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

500. “Our hopes, often though they deceive us, lead us pleasantly along the path of life.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld