Top 500 François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes (2025 Update)
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451. “The good or the bad fortune of men depends not less upon their own dispositions than upon fortune.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

452. “Moral severity in women is only a dress or paint which they use to set off their beauty.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

453. “Criticism sometimes is really praise, and praise sometimes slander.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

454. “That which occasions so many mistakes in the computations of men, when they expect return for favors, is that the giver’s pride and the receiver’s cannot agree upon the value of the kindness done.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

455. “We are eager to believe that others are flawed because we are eager to believe in what we wish for.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

456. “In love, the quickest is always the best cure.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

457. “It is sometimes a point of as much cleverness to know to make good use of advice from others as to be able give good advice to oneself.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

458. “We are better pleased to see those on whom we confer benefits than those from whom we receive them.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

459. “The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

460. “Self-love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them; and we judge of their merit by the manner in which they act towards us.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

461. “Consolation for unhappiness can often be found in a certain satisfaction we get from looking unhappy.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

462. “To praise princes for virtues they do not possess is to insult them without fear of consequences.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

463. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

465. “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

466. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

470. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

472. “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

473. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

479. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

481. “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

482. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

488. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

490. “What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

491. “Moderation in people who are contented comes from that calm that good fortune lends to their spirit.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

492. “Though most of the friendships of the world ill deserve the name of friendships; yet a man may make use of them on occasion, as of a traffic whose returns are uncertain, and in which ’tis usual to be cheated.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

493. “We should wish for few things with eagerness, if we perfectly knew the nature of that which was the object of our desire.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

494. “We often are consoled by our want of reason for misfortunes that reason could not have comforted.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

495. “A great many men’s gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

496. “It is difficult to like those whom we do not esteem; but it is no less so to like those whom we esteem more than ourselves.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

499. “Few know how to be old.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

500. “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