Top 500 François de La Rochefoucauld Quotes (2026 Update)
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401. “Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

402. “Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

403. “Affected simplicity is an elegant imposture.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

404. “It may be said that the vices await us in the journey of life like hosts with whom we must successively lodge; and I doubt whether experience would make us avoid them if we were to travel the same road a second time.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

405. “Ordinary men commonly condemn what is beyond them.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

406. “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

407. “We torment ourselves rather to make it appear that we are happy than to become so.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

408. “Youth changes its tastes by the warmth of its blood; age retains its tastes by habit.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

409. “Those whom the world has delighted to honor have oftener been influenced in their doings by ambition and vanity than by patriotism.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

410. “The constancy of sages is nothing but the art of locking up their agitation in their hearts.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

411. “Unfaithfulness ought to extinguish love, and we should not be jealous when there is reason to be. Only those who give no grounds for jealousy are worthy of it.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

413. “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

414. “The good or the bad fortune of men depends not less upon their own dispositions than upon fortune.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

416. “The violence we do to ourselves in order to remain faithful to the one we love is hardly better than an act of infidelity.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

417. “Our distrust justifies the deceit of others.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

418. “If a man doesn’t find ease in himself, ’tis in vain to seek it elsewhere.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

419. “Jealousy springs more from love of self than from love of another.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

420. “There are few things we should keenly desire if we really knew what we wanted.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

421. “If one judges love according to the greatest part of the effects it produces, it would appear to resemble rather hatred than kindness.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

422. “If it were not for poetry, few men would ever fall in love.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

423. “Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

424. “Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

425. “We are much mistaken if we think that men are always brave from a principle of valor, or women chaste from a principle of modesty.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

426. “The love of new acquaintance comes not so much from being weary of what we had before, or from any satisfaction there is in change, as from the distaste we feel in being too little admired by those that know us too well, and the hope of being more admired by those that know us less.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

427. “We make promises to the extent that we hope-and keep them to the extent that we fear.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

428. “Second-rate minds usually condemn everything beyond their grasp.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

429. “Moderation is a fear of falling into that envy and contempt which those who grow giddy with their good fortune quite justly draw upon themselves. It is a vain boasting of the greatness of our mind.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

430. “The force we use on ourselves, to prevent ourselves from loving, is often more cruel than the severest treatment at the hands of one loved.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

431. “We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

432. “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

433. “Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

434. “Some good qualities are like the senses: Those who are entirely deprived of them can have no notion of them.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

435. “We often brag that we are never bored with ourselves, and are so vain as never to think ourselves bad company.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

436. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

438. “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

439. “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

440. “Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

441. “To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

442. “A man of understanding finds less difficulty in submitting to a wrong-headed fellow, than in attempting to set him right.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

443. “All men are equally proud. The only difference is that not all take the same methods of showing it.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

444. “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

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

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

— François de La Rochefoucauld

447. “It is praiseworthy even to attempt a great action.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

448. “That good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

449. “The intellect of the generality of women serves more to fortify their folly than their reason.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld

450. “When our vices leave us, we like to imagine it is we who are leaving them.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld