1613-1680 French writer.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The gratitude of most people is nothing more than a hidden expectation of even greater benefits.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Only those who deserve it are afraid of contempt.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
There is such love, which in its highest manifestation leaves no room for jealousy.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
There is more selfishness in jealousy than love.
François de La Rochefoucauld
In serious matters, care should be taken not so much to create favorable opportunities as to seize them.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Everyone complains about the lack of their memory, but no one has yet complained about the lack of common sense.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Everything that ceases to succeed, ceases to attract.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The only thing that usually prevents us from completely indulging in one vice is that we have several of them.
François de La Rochefoucauld
If we decide never to deceive others, they will deceive us again and again.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
There are quite a few people who despise wealth, but only a few of them will be able to part with it.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The desire to talk about oneself and show one's shortcomings only from the side from which it is most beneficial to us - that's main reason our sincerity.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those who are envied.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Finesse for the body is the same as common sense for the mind.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
No matter how rare true love true friendship is even rarer.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope or fight.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
The people we love almost always have more power over our souls than we do ourselves.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
We do not despise those who have vices, but those who have no virtues.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
We got so used to wearing masks in front of others that we ended up wearing masks even in front of ourselves.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Nature endows us with virtues, and fate helps to show them.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Ridicule is often a sign of poverty of mind: it comes to the rescue when good arguments are lacking.
François de La Rochefoucauld
True friendship does not know envy, and true love does not know coquetry.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Shortcomings are sometimes more forgivable than the means used to hide them.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Mind defects, as well as appearance defects, are aggravated with age.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The inaccessibility of women is one of their outfits and attire to enhance their beauty.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
The merits of a man should not be judged by his great virtues, but by the way he uses them.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Usually happiness comes to the happy, and unhappiness to the unhappy.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Usually happiness comes to the happy, and unhappiness to the unfortunate.
François de La Rochefoucauld
As long as people love, they forgive.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The habit of constantly being cunning is a sign of a limited mind, and it almost always happens that he who resorts to cunning to cover himself in one place opens up in another.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Separation weakens a slight infatuation, but strengthens a great passion, just as the wind extinguishes a candle, but kindles a fire.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Fate is considered blind mainly by those to whom it does not bestow good luck.
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld
Stubbornness is born from the limitations of our mind: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.
François de La Rochefoucauld
A person is never as unhappy as he thinks, or as happy as he wants.
François La Rochefoucauld
A person is never as happy as he wants, and as unhappy as he thinks.
François de La Rochefoucauld
In order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve the goal; in fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.
François de La Rochefoucauld
To comprehend the world around us, you need to know it in all its details, and since these details are almost innumerable, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
François de La Rochefoucauld
A clear mind gives the soul what health gives the body.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Preserving your health with too strict a regimen is a very boring disease.
Most of all, it is not the mind that enlivens the conversation, but trust.
Most women give up not because their passion is great, but because their weakness is great. Therefore, enterprising men usually have success.
Most people in conversations do not respond to other people's judgments, but to their own thoughts.
Most people who think they are kind are only condescending or weak.
There are cases in life, from which only stupidity can help to get out.
In great deeds, it is necessary not so much to create circumstances as to use those that are available.
Great thoughts come from great feelings.
Dignity is an incomprehensible property of the body, invented to hide the flaws of the mind.
There are more flaws in a man's character than in his mind.
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
In friendship and love, we are often happy with what we do not know, rather than with what we know.
Where there is hope, there is fear: fear is always full of hope, hope is always full of fear.
Pride does not want to be in debt, and pride does not want to pay.
They give advice, but do not give prudence to use it.
If we weren't overcome by pride, we wouldn't complain about pride in others.
If you want to have enemies, try to outdo your friends.
If you want to please others, you must talk about what they love and what touches them, avoid arguing about things they don't care about, rarely ask questions and never give a reason to think that you are smarter.
There are people to whom vices go, and others who are ugly even by virtues.
There are commendable reproaches, just as there are accusatory praises.
Envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those who are envied.
Elegance is to the body what common sense is to the mind.
Some people fall in love just because they have heard about love.
Other shortcomings, if skillfully used, sparkle brighter than any virtues.
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
No matter how indefinite and diverse the world may be, however, it always has a certain secret connection and a clear order, which are created by providence, forcing everyone to take their place and follow their purpose.
As soon as a fool praises us, he no longer seems so stupid to us.
How often do people use their minds to do stupid things.
When vices leave us, we try to convince ourselves that we left them.
Whoever is cured of love first is always cured more fully.
He who has never committed recklessness is not as wise as he thinks.
He who is too diligent in small things usually becomes incapable of great things.
Flattery is counterfeit coin circulating through our vanity.
Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice is forced to pay to virtue.
A lie is sometimes so cleverly pretended to be the truth that not to succumb to deception would mean betraying common sense.
Laziness imperceptibly undermines our aspirations and dignity.
It is easier to know people in general than one person in particular.
It is easier to neglect a benefit than to give up a whim.
People usually backbite not out of bad intentions, but out of vanity.
Human quarrels would not last so long if all the blame was on one side.
The only reason lovers don't miss each other is that they talk about themselves all the time.
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope and fear.
Small-minded people are sensitive to petty offenses; people of great intelligence notice everything and are not offended by anything.
Close-minded people usually condemn what is beyond their horizons.
Human passions are just different tendencies of human selfishness.
You can give reasonable advice to another, but you cannot teach him reasonable behavior.
We rarely fully understand what we really want.
We are so intolerant of other people's vanity because it hurts our own.
We readily admit to small shortcomings, wishing to say by this that we have no more important ones.
We try to be proud of those shortcomings from which we do not want to improve.
We consider sane only those people who agree with us on everything.
We are funny not so much by the qualities that we have, but by those that we try to show without having them.
We confess our shortcomings only under the pressure of vanity.
We most often misjudge the maxims that prove the falsity of human virtues because our own virtues always seem to us true.
We are given joy not by what surrounds us, but by our attitude towards the environment.
It is more pleasant for us to see not those people who do good to us, but those whom we do good.
It is more shameful not to trust friends than to be deceived by them.
It is impossible to achieve a high position in society without having at least some merit.
A man who has never been in danger cannot be held accountable for his courage.
Our wisdom is as subject to chance as our wealth.
Not one flatterer flatters so skillfully as pride.
Hatred and flattery are pitfalls against which truth breaks.
The equanimity of the sages is just the ability to hide their feelings in the depths of their hearts.
There are no more insufferable fools than those who are not completely devoid of mind.
There is nothing more stupid than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.
Nothing interferes with naturalness so much as the desire to appear natural.
The possession of several vices prevents us from completely surrendering to one of them.
It is equally difficult to please someone who loves very much and someone who does not love at all.
The virtues of a person should not be judged by his good qualities, but by how he uses them.
It is easiest to deceive a person when he wants to deceive us.
Selfishness blinds some, opens the eyes of others.
We judge the virtues of people by their attitude towards us.
Sometimes a person is as little like himself as he is about others.
Having lost hope of discovering intelligence in others, we no longer try to preserve it ourselves.
Betrayals are committed most often not by deliberate intent, but by weakness of character.
The habit of being constantly cunning is a sign of a limited mind, and it almost always happens that he who resorts to cunning to cover himself in one place is revealed in another.
A sign of the true dignity of a person is that even envious people are forced to praise him.
Decency is the least important of all the laws of society, and the most honored.
The joys and sorrows that we experience do not depend on the size of what happened, but on our sensitivity.
The greatest evil an enemy can do to us is to accustom our hearts to hatred.
The bravest and most intelligent people are those who, under any pretext, avoid thoughts of death.
With our distrust, we justify someone else's deceit.
Hiding our true feelings is harder than portraying non-existent ones.
Compassion weakens the soul.
The judgments of our enemies about us are closer to the truth than our own.
The happy or unhappy state of people depends on physiology no less than on fate.
Happiness does not seem so blind to anyone as to those to whom it has never smiled.
Those who happened to experience great passions, then all their lives rejoice at their healing and grieve about it.
Only knowing our fate in advance, we could vouch for our behavior.
Only great people have great vices.
Whoever thinks he can do without others is greatly mistaken; but he who thinks that others cannot do without him is still more mistaken.
The moderation of people who have reached the pinnacle of fortune is the desire to appear above their fate.
A smart person can be in love like a crazy person, but not like a fool.
We have more strength than will, and often, in order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often find many things impossible for us.
A person who does not like anyone is much more unhappy than one who does not like anyone.
To become a great man, you need to be able to skillfully use everything that fate offers.
A clear mind gives the soul what health gives the body.
François de La Rochefoucauld
1. In order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often confess that we are powerless to achieve something; in fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed
2. To read instructions to people who have committed deeds, as a rule, it is not kindness that makes us, but pride; we reproach them not even in order to correct, but only in order to convince of our own infallibility
3. Overzealous in small things usually becomes incapable of great things.
4. We lack the strength of character to obediently follow all the dictates of reason.
5. We are pleased not with what surrounds us, but with our attitude towards it, and we feel happy when we have what we ourselves love, and not what others consider worthy of love
6. No matter how proud people are of their accomplishments, the latter are often the result not of great ideas, but of an ordinary accident.
7. The happiness and unhappiness of a person depend not only on his fate, but on his character.
8. Grace is to the body what sanity is to the mind.
9. Even the most skillful pretense will not help to hide love for a long time when it is, or portray it when it is not.
10. If you judge love by its usual manifestations, it is more like enmity than friendship.
11. No person, having ceased to love, can not avoid the feeling of shame for the past love.
12. Love brings people as much good as bad
13. Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
14. People could not live in society if they did not have the opportunity to lead each other by the nose.
15. Truly extraordinary qualities are endowed with those who managed to earn the praise of their envious people.
16. With the generosity of how we give advice, we don't give away anything else.
17. The more we love a woman, the more we tend to hate her.
18. Pretending that we have fallen into a trap prepared for us, we show really refined cunning, since it is easiest to deceive a person when he wants to deceive you.
19. It is much easier to be wise in other people's affairs than in your own.
20. It is easier for us to control people than to prevent them from controlling us.
21. Nature endows us with virtues, and fate helps them to manifest
22. There are people who are repulsive for all their virtues, and there are attractive people despite their shortcomings.
23. Flattery is a counterfeit coin that only circulates because of our vanity.
24. It is not enough to have many virtues - it is important to be able to use them
25. Worthy people respect us for our virtues, the crowd - for the favor of fate
26. Society often rewards the appearance of merit rather than the merit itself.
27. It would be much more useful to use all the powers of our mind to adequately experience the misfortunes that have fallen to our lot than to foresee the misfortunes that can still happen.
28. The desire for fame, the fear of shame, the pursuit of wealth, the desire to arrange life as conveniently and pleasantly as possible, the desire to humiliate others - this is often the basis of valor, so praised by people.
29. The highest virtue is to do in solitude what people decide only in the presence of many witnesses.
30. Only that person is worthy of praise for kindness, who has the strength of character to sometimes be evil; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will
31. Doing evil to people in most cases is not as dangerous as doing them too much good.
32. Most often those people who think that they are not a burden for anyone are the ones who burden others.
33. A real dodger is one who knows how to hide his own dexterity
34. Generosity neglects everything in order to take possession of everything
36. Real eloquence is the ability to say everything you need, and no more than you need.
37. Every person, whoever he may be, tries to put on such an appearance and put on such a mask that he will be accepted for who he wants to appear to be; therefore it can be said that society consists of masks alone
38. Magnificence is a cunning trick of the body invented to hide the flaws of the mind
39. The so-called generosity is usually based on vanity, which is dearer to us than everything that we give.
40. People so willingly believe bad things, not trying to understand the essence, because they are vain and lazy. They want to find the guilty ones, but they do not seek to bother themselves with the analysis of the committed offense.
41. No matter how far-sighted a person is, it is not given to him to comprehend all the evil that he does
42. Sometimes a lie is so cleverly pretended to be the truth that not to succumb to deception would mean betraying common sense.
43. Showy simplicity is subtle hypocrisy
44. It can be argued that human characters, like some buildings, have several facades, and not all of them have a pleasant appearance.
45. We rarely understand what we really want
46. The gratitude of most people is caused by a secret desire to achieve even greater benefits.
47. Almost all people pay for small favors, most are grateful for small ones, but almost no one feels gratitude for large ones.
48. No matter what praises we hear in our address, we do not find anything new in them for ourselves.
49. Often we are condescending to those who burden us, but we are never condescending to those to whom we ourselves are a burden.
50. To exalt one's virtues in private with oneself is as reasonable as it is foolish to boast of them in front of others
51. There are situations in life that you can only get out of with the help of a considerable amount of recklessness.
52. What is the reason that we remember in detail what happened to us, but are not able to remember how many times we told the same person about it?
53. The great pleasure with which we talk about ourselves should have planted in our souls the suspicion that the interlocutors do not share it at all.
54. Confessing to minor shortcomings, we thereby try to convince society that we do not have more significant
55. To become a great person, you need to be able to deftly use the chance that fate offers
56. We consider sane only those people who agree with us in everything
57. Many shortcomings, if skillfully used, sparkle brighter than any virtues.
58. People of small mind are sensitive to petty offenses; people of great intelligence notice everything and are not offended by anything
59. No matter how distrustful we may be of our interlocutors, it still seems to us that they are more sincere with us than with others.
60. Cowards, as a rule, are not given to appreciate the power of their own fear.
61. Young people usually think that their behavior is natural, while in fact they behave rudely and ill-mannered
62. People of a shallow mind often discuss everything that is beyond their understanding.
63. True friendship does not know envy, and true love does not know coquetry
64. You can give good advice to your neighbor, but you cannot teach him reasonable behavior.
65. Everything that ceases to work out ceases to interest us
67. If vanity does not crush all our virtues to the ground, then, in any case, it shakes them.
68. It is often easier to endure a lie than to hear the whole truth about yourself.
69. Dignity is not always inherent in majesty, but majesty is always inherent in some dignity.
70. Magnificence suits virtue as much as a precious adornment suits a person. beautiful woman
71. In the most ridiculous position are those older women who remember that they were once attractive, but forgot that they have long lost their former beauty.
72. For our most noble deeds, we would often have to blush if others knew about our motives
73. Not capable for a long time like someone who is smart in one way
74. The mind usually serves us only to boldly do stupid things.
75. Both the charm of novelty and long habit, for all the opposite, equally prevent us from seeing the shortcomings of our friends.
76. A woman in love is more likely to forgive a big indiscretion than a small infidelity.
77. Nothing prevents naturalness like the desire to appear natural
78. Sincerely praising good deeds means taking part in them to some extent.
79. The surest sign high virtues- from birth, do not know envy
80. It is easier to know people in general than one person in particular.
81. The virtues of a person should not be judged by his good qualities, but by how he uses them
82. Sometimes we are too grateful, sometimes paying off friends for the good done to us, we still leave them in debt
83. We would have very few cravings if we knew exactly what we want.
84. As in love, so in friendship, we are more likely to enjoy what we do not know than what we know about.
85. We try to take credit for those shortcomings that we do not want to correct.
87. In serious matters, care must be taken not so much to create favorable opportunities as to not miss them.
88. What our enemies think of us is closer to the truth than ours own opinion
89. We have no idea what our passions can push us to.
90. Sympathy for enemies in trouble is most often caused not so much by kindness as by vanity: we sympathize with them in order to show our superiority over them
91. Flaws often make great talents
92. No one's imagination is able to come up with such a multitude of conflicting feelings that usually coexist in one human heart.
93. Genuine softness can only be shown by people with a strong character: for the rest, their apparent softness is, as a rule, ordinary weakness, which easily becomes embittered
94. The tranquility of our soul or its confusion depends not so much on the important events of our life, but on a successful or unpleasant combination of everyday trifles for us
95. Not too broad mind, but sound as a result is not so tiring for the interlocutor than the mind is broad, but confused
96. There are reasons why one can abhor life, but one cannot despise death.
97. Do not think that death will seem to us the same as we saw it from afar
98. The mind is too weak to rely on it when facing death.
99. The talents with which God endowed people are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and fruits inherent only to him. Therefore, the best pear tree will not even give birth to bad apples, and the most talented person he succumbs to a deed, although an ordinary one, but given only to those who are capable of this deed. For this reason, to compose aphorisms when you do not have at least a small talent for this occupation is no less ridiculous than to expect tulips to bloom in a garden where bulbs are not planted.
100. Therefore, we are ready to believe any stories about the shortcomings of our neighbors, because it is easiest to believe what we want
101. Hope and fear are inseparable: fear is always full of hope, hope is always full of fear
102. Do not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves
103. The end of good marks the beginning of evil, and the end of evil marks the beginning of good
104. Philosophers condemn wealth only because we mismanage it. It depends on us alone how to acquire it, how to use it without serving vice. Instead of using wealth to support and feed evil deeds, as firewood feeds a fire, we could give it to the service of virtues, thereby giving them both brilliance and attractiveness.
105. The collapse of all the hopes of a person is pleasant to everyone: both his friends and enemies
106. When we are completely bored, we stop being bored
107. True self-flagellation is subjected to only one who does not tell anyone about it; otherwise everything is facilitated by vanity
108. a wise man happy, being content with little, but a fool is not enough: that is why all people are unhappy
109. A clear mind gives the soul what health gives the body
110. Lovers begin to see the shortcomings of their mistresses only when their feelings come to an end.
111. Prudence and love are not made for each other: as love grows, prudence decreases
112. A wise person understands that it is better to forbid yourself a hobby than to fight it later.
113. It is much more useful to study not books, but people
114. As a rule, happiness finds the happy, and unhappiness finds the unfortunate
115. He who loves too much does not notice for a long time that he himself is no longer loved.
116. We scold ourselves only for someone to praise us
117. Hiding our true feelings is much harder than depicting non-existent ones.
118. Much more unhappy is the one who doesn't like anyone than the one who doesn't like anyone.
119. A person who realizes what misfortunes could fall on him is already happy to some extent.
120. He who has not found peace in himself cannot find it anywhere
121. A person is never as unhappy as he would like to be.
122. It is not in our will to fall in love or fall out of love, therefore neither a lover has the right to complain about the frivolity of his mistress, nor she - about inconstancy
123. When we stop loving, it gives us joy that they cheat on us, because in this way we are freed from the need to be faithful
124. In the failures of our close friends, we find something even pleasant for ourselves.
125. Having lost the hope of discovering intelligence in those around us, we no longer try to keep it ourselves.
126. No one rushes others like lazy people: having gratified their own laziness, they want to appear diligent
127. We have as much reason to complain about people who help us to know ourselves as an Athenian madman to complain about a doctor who cured him of the false belief that he is a rich man.
128. Our selfishness is such that not a single flatterer is able to outdo it
129. About all our virtues we can say the same thing that an Italian poet once said about decent women: most often they just skillfully pretend to be decent.
130. We confess our own vices only under the pressure of vanity
131. Rich funeral rites do not so much perpetuate the dignity of the dead as they please the vanity of the living.
132. Unshakable courage is needed to organize a conspiracy, but ordinary courage is enough to endure the dangers of war.
133. A person who has never been in danger cannot be responsible for his own courage.
134. It is much easier for people to limit their gratitude than their hopes and desires.
135. Imitation is always unbearable, and forgery is unpleasant to us by the very features that so captivate in the original
136. The depth of our grief for lost friends is not so much in proportion to their virtues as our own need for these people, as well as how highly they valued our virtues.
137. We hardly believe in what lies beyond our horizons.
138. Truth is the fundamental principle and essence of beauty and perfection; beautiful and perfect only that, having everything that it should have, is truly what it should be
139. It happens that beautiful works are more attractive when they are imperfect than when they are too finished.
140. Generosity is a noble effort of pride, with the help of which a person masters himself, thereby mastering everything around him.
141. Laziness is the most unpredictable of our passions. Despite the fact that its power over us is imperceptible, and the damage caused by it is deeply hidden from our eyes, there is no passion more ardent and malicious. If we carefully look at its influence, we will be convinced that it invariably manages to take possession of all our feelings, desires and pleasures: it is like a clinging fish, stopping huge ships, like a dead calm, more dangerous for our most important affairs than any reefs and storms. In lazy peace, the soul finds a secret delight, for the sake of which we instantly forget about our most ardent aspirations and our most firm intentions. Finally, to give a true idea of this passion, let us add that laziness is such a sweet peace of the soul that comforts it in all losses and replaces all blessings.
142. Everyone loves to study others, but no one likes to be studied.
143. What a boring disease it is to protect one's own health with too strict a regimen!
144. Most women give up not because their passion is so strong, but because they are weak. For this reason, enterprising men always have such success, although they are not at all the most attractive.
145. The surest way to kindle passion in another is to keep yourself cold
146. The height of the sanity of the least sane people lies in the ability to meekly follow the reasonable orders of others
147. People strive to achieve worldly blessings and pleasures at the expense of their neighbors.
148. Most likely, the one who is convinced that he can not bore anyone is bored.
149. It is unlikely that several people have the same aspirations, but it is necessary that the aspirations of each of them do not contradict each other.
150. All of us, with few exceptions, are afraid to appear before our neighbors as we really are.
151. We lose a lot by appropriating a manner that is alien to us
152. People try to appear different from what they really are, instead of becoming what they want to appear.
153. Many people are not only ready to give up their inherent manner of holding themselves for the sake of that which they consider appropriate to the position and rank they have achieved, but even while dreaming of exaltation, they begin to behave in advance as if they had already exalted themselves. How many colonels behave like the marshals of France, how many judges pretend to be chancellors, how many townswomen play the part of duchesses!
154. People think not about the words they listen to, but about those that they long to pronounce
155. You should talk about yourself and set yourself as an example as rarely as possible.
156. The one who does not exhaust the subject of the conversation and gives the opportunity to others to think up and say something else is prudent.
157. It is necessary to talk with everyone about subjects close to him, and only when it is appropriate.
158. If you say the right word at the right time - great art, then to remain silent in time is an even greater art. Eloquent silence you can sometimes express agreement, and disapproval; sometimes silence is mocking, but sometimes it is respectful
159. Usually people become frank because of vanity.
160. There are few secrets in the world that are kept forever
161. Great examples have produced a disgusting number of copies.
162. Old people are so fond of giving good advice, because they can no longer set bad examples.
163. The opinions of our enemies about us are much closer to the truth than our own opinions.
Gratitude is just a secret hope for further approval.
As long as we strive to help people, we rarely meet with ingratitude.
It is not a great misfortune to serve the ungrateful, but it is a great misfortune to accept a service from a scoundrel.
As a punishment for original sin, God allowed man to create an idol out of selfishness, so that it tormented him in all life's paths.
There are quite a lot of people who despise wealth, but give it little away.
What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regimen.
Why do we remember in great detail what happened to us, but are unable to remember how many times we told the same person about it?
Small minds have the gift of talking much and saying nothing.
Bodily pain is the only evil that the mind can neither weaken nor heal.
Marriage is the only war during which you sleep with the enemy.
Generosity is the understanding of pride and the surest means of obtaining praise.
Generosity is quite aptly defined by its name; moreover, it can be said that it is the common sense of pride and the most worthy way to good fame.
Having ceased to love, we rejoice when they cheat on us, thereby freeing us from the need to be faithful.
In serious matters, care should be taken not so much to create favorable opportunities as to seize them.
Our enemies are much closer to the truth in their judgments about us than we are ourselves.
Arrogance is, in essence, the same pride, loudly declaring its presence.
There is nothing more stupid than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.
There are no more insufferable fools than those who are not completely devoid of mind.
Pride is common to all people; the only difference is how and when they show it.
Pride always recovers its losses and loses nothing, even when it gives up vanity.
Pride does not want to be indebted, and pride does not want to pay.
Pride, playing human comedy all the roles in a row and, as if tired of their tricks and transformations, suddenly appears with open face arrogantly tearing off his mask.
If we were not overcome by pride, we would not complain about the pride of others.
Not kindness, but pride, usually leads us to admonish people who have committed wrongdoings.
The most dangerous consequence of pride is blindness: it supports and strengthens it, preventing us from finding means that would ease our sorrows and help us heal from vices.
Pride has a thousand faces, but the most skillful and most deceitful of them is humility.
Luxury and excessive sophistication predict certain death for the state, for they testify that all private individuals are concerned only about their own good, not at all caring about the public good.
The highest virtue is to do in solitude what people usually decide to do only in the presence of many witnesses.
Supreme prowess and irresistible cowardice are extremes that are very rare. Between them, on a vast expanse, are every possible shade of courage, as diverse as human faces and characters. the fear of death to some extent limits valor.
The highest virtue is to do in solitude what men only dare to do in the presence of many witnesses.
For simple soldier prowess is a dangerous trade, which he undertakes in order to earn his livelihood.
Everyone praises their kindness, but no one dares to praise his intelligence.
Where good ends, evil begins, and where evil ends, good begins.
Praise for kindness is worthy only of a person who has enough strength of character to sometimes be evil; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will.
Everyone looks at his duty as an annoying overlord, from whom he would like to get rid of.
The evil we do brings us less hatred and persecution than our virtues.
The surest sign of innate high virtues is the absence of innate envy.
It is more shameful not to trust friends than to be deceived by them.
Not noticing the cooling of friends means little appreciation of their friendship.
Appreciate not what good your friend does, but appreciate his willingness to do you good.
The heat of friendship warms the heart without burning it.
We are so fickle in friendship because it is difficult to know the properties of the soul of a person and it is easy to know the properties of the mind.
Love for the soul of the lover means the same as the soul for the body, which it inspires.
Pity is nothing else than a shrewd foresight of disasters that may befall us too.
A far-sighted person must determine a place for each of his desires and then fulfill them in order. Our greed often disturbs this order and causes us to pursue so many goals at the same time that in chasing trifles we miss the essential.
We are afraid of everything, as befits mortals, and we want everything, as if we were rewarded with immortality.
Before wishing strongly for something, one should inquire whether the current owner of the desired is very happy.
Women are more likely to overcome their passion than their coquetry.
There are many women in the world who have never had a single love affair, but there are very few who have only one.
A woman in love is more likely to forgive a greater indiscretion than a small infidelity.
There are situations in life from which you can get out only with the help of a fair amount of recklessness.
Moderation in life is similar to abstinence in food: I would eat more, but it’s scary to get sick.
They envy only those with whom they do not hope to be equal.
Our envy always lives longer than the happiness we envy.
Envy is even more irreconcilable than hatred.
What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regimen!
The miserly fallacy is that they consider gold and silver to be goods, while they are only means for acquiring goods.
The desire to talk about ourselves and show our shortcomings only from the side from which it is most beneficial to us is the main reason for our sincerity.
Truth is not so beneficent as its appearance is harmful.
No flatterer flatters as skillfully as pride.
Pride never hypocrites so skillfully as hiding under the guise of humility.
The highest skill is to know the true price of everything.
Behind the aversion to lies often lies a hidden desire to give weight to our statements and to inspire reverent confidence in our words.
As long as we love, we can forgive.
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
No matter how pleasant love is, yet its external manifestations give us more joy than love itself.
Love is one, but there are thousands of fakes for it.
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope and fear.
Love covers with its name the most diverse human relations, supposedly connected with it, although in reality it participates in them no more than rain in the events taking place in Venice.
Many would never fall in love if they had not heard about love.
It is equally difficult to please someone who loves very much, and someone who no longer loves at all.
The one who is cured of love first is always cured more fully.
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
There are people with virtues, but nasty, while others, though with flaws, but cause sympathy.
There are people who are destined to be stupid: they do stupid things not only of their own free will, but also by the will of fate.
Truly clever people pretend all their lives that they abhor cunning, but in reality they simply save it for exceptional cases that promise exceptional benefits.
Only people with a strong character can be truly soft: for the rest, apparent softness is in reality just a weakness that easily turns into quarrelsomeness.
No matter how people boast of the greatness of their deeds, the latter are often the result not of great plans, but simply by chance.
When people love, they forgive.
People who believe in their own merits consider it their duty to be unhappy, in order to convince others and themselves that fate has not yet repaid them as they deserved.
People sometimes call friendship spending time together, mutual assistance in business, exchange of favors. In a word, such relationships where selfishness hopes to gain something.
People could not live in society if they did not lead each other by the nose.
People not only forget good deeds and insults, but even tend to hate their benefactors and forgive offenders.
People often boast of the most criminal passions, but no one dares to confess to envy, a timid and bashful passion.
Human attachment has the peculiarity of changing with the change of happiness.
Human quarrels would not last so long if all the blame was on one side.
A wise man is happy with a little, but a fool is not enough; that is why almost all people are unhappy.
Sometimes revolutions take place in society that change both its fate and the tastes of people.
What people call virtue is usually only a ghost created by their lusts and wearing such high name so that they can follow their desires with impunity.
Moderation happy people comes from the tranquility bestowed by unfailing good fortune.
Although the destinies of people are very dissimilar, but a certain balance in the distribution of blessings and misfortunes, as it were, equalizes them among themselves.
The world is ruled by fate and whim.
Youth changes its tastes due to hot blood, but the old man retains his own due to habit.
Young men often think that they are natural, when in fact they are simply ill-mannered and rude.
If great art is required to speak out at the right time, then no small art consists in keeping silent at the right time.
For those who do not trust themselves, it is wiser to remain silent.
Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.
It is much easier to show wisdom in other people's affairs than in one's own.
The collapse of all the hopes of a person is pleasant both to his friends and enemies.
IN Everyday life our shortcomings sometimes seem more attractive than our virtues.
Powerlessness is the only flaw that cannot be corrected.
Dignity is an incomprehensible property of the body, invented in order to hide the lack of the mind.
Pretending importance is a special demeanor invented for the benefit of those who have to hide a lack of intelligence.
If we did not have shortcomings, we would not be so pleased to notice them in our neighbors.
The secret pleasure of knowing that people see how unhappy we are often reconciles us to our misfortunes.
With our distrust, we justify someone else's deceit.
We love to judge people for the things they judge us for.
There is nowhere to find peace for those who have not found it in themselves.
The highest sanity of the least sane people consists in the ability to obediently follow the reasonable dictates of others.
The possession of several vices prevents us from completely surrendering to one of them.
Our actions seem to be born under a lucky or unlucky star; to her they owe most of the praise or blame that falls to their lot.
We should not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves.
Betrayals are most often committed not by deliberate intent, but by weakness of character.
It is easier to neglect a benefit than to give up a whim.
Our whims are far more bizarre than the whims of fate.
The wind blows out the candle, but blows out the fire.
Nature, in its concern for our happiness, not only rationally arranged the organs of our body, but also gave us pride, apparently in order to save us from the sad consciousness of our imperfection.
It is never more difficult to speak well than when it is shameful to remain silent.
Separation weakens a slight infatuation, but strengthens a great passion, just as the wind extinguishes a candle, but kindles a fire.
What praises are given to prudence! However, it is not able to save us even from the most insignificant vicissitudes of fate.
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
Jealousy is to some extent reasonable and just, because it wants to preserve our property or what we consider as such, while envy is blindly indignant at the fact that our neighbors have some property.
Jealousy feeds on doubt; it dies or goes berserk as soon as doubt turns into certainty.
Jealousy is always born with love, but it does not always die with it.
Modesty is the worst form of vanity
It is given to few people to comprehend what death is; in most cases, it is not done out of deliberate intention, but out of stupidity and according to established custom, and people most often die because they cannot resist death.
Neither the sun nor death can be looked at point-blank.
It is better to laugh without being happy than to die without laughing.
You can give advice, but you can not give the mind to use it.
Most often, compassion is the ability to see one's own misfortunes in others, it is a premonition of disasters that can befall us too. We help people so that they can help us in turn; thus, our services are reduced simply to the benefits that we do to ourselves ahead of time.
The justice of a moderate judge testifies only to his love for his high position.
For most people, the love of justice is simply the fear of being exposed to injustice.
Love for justice is born of the liveliest anxiety, lest someone take away our property from us; it is this which induces people to guard the interests of their neighbor so carefully, to respect them so carefully, and to avoid unjust acts so diligently. This fear forces them to be content with the blessings granted to them by birthright or the whim of fate, and if it were not for it, they would incessantly raid other people's possessions.
Old people are so fond of giving good advice because they are no longer able to set bad examples.
Old age is hell for women.
The strength of all our passions depends on how cold or hot our blood is.
Passions are the only orators whose arguments are always convincing.
Everything that fate sends us, we evaluate depending on the mood.
It is more difficult to behave with dignity when fate is favorable than when it is hostile.
Fate arranges everything for the benefit of those whom it patronizes.
Fate sometimes picks up various human misdeeds so skillfully that virtues are born from them.
Fate is considered blind mainly by those to whom it does not bestow good luck.
Only knowing in advance our fate, we could vouch for our behavior in advance.
The happiness and unhappiness of a person depends as much on his temper as on fate.
How can we demand that someone keep our secret if we cannot keep it ourselves?
There are so many varieties of vanity that it is not worth counting.
Self-confidence forms the basis of our confidence in others.
The mind sometimes serves us only to boldly do stupid things.
Courtesy of the mind consists in the ability to think with dignity and refinement.
Good taste speaks not so much of intelligence as of clarity of judgment.
Stubbornness is born from the limitations of our mind: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.
Philosophy triumphs over the sorrows of the past and future, but the sorrows of the present triumph over philosophy.
We lack the strength of character to dutifully follow all the dictates of reason.
You can be smarter than someone else, but you can't be smarter than everyone else.
In the human heart there is a continuous change of passions, and the extinction of one of them almost always means the triumph of the other.
It is much easier to get to know a person in general than any one in particular.
No matter what advantages nature has endowed a person with, she can create a hero out of him only by calling on fate for help.
Can a person say with certainty what he wants in the future if he is not able to understand what he wants now?
The merits of a man should not be judged by his great virtues, but by the way he uses them.
Self-love is a person's love for himself and for everything that makes up his good.
A person is never as happy or as unhappy as it seems to him.
A person incapable of a great crime finds it hard to believe that others are quite capable of it.
Hiding our true feelings is harder than depicting non-existent ones.
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Decency is the least important duty, and is observed more strictly than all others.
Only those who deserve it are afraid of contempt.
The thirst to deserve the praises lavished upon us strengthens our virtue; thus, the praises of our mind, valor and beauty make us smarter, more valiant and more beautiful.
Grace is to the body what common sense is to the mind.
We are usually driven to new acquaintances not so much by fatigue from old ones or by a love of change, as by dissatisfaction with the fact that people we know well do not admire us enough, and the hope that people who know little will admire us more.
He who is not capable of great things is scrupulous in trifles.
Affection comes more often from a vain mind that seeks praise than from a pure heart.
It is not enough to have outstanding qualities, one must also be able to use them.
We scold ourselves only to be praised.
We are always afraid to show ourselves to the one we love, after we happened to be attracted on the side.
Our self-esteem suffers more when our tastes are condemned than when our views are condemned.
It is a mistake to think that we can do without others, but it is even more mistaken to think that others could not do without us.
Truly dexterous is he who knows how to hide his dexterity.
Praise is useful if only because it strengthens us in virtuous intentions.
Before we dedicate our heart to achieving any goal, let's see how happy those who have already achieved that goal are.
The moderation of the one who favors fate is usually either the fear of being ridiculed for arrogance, or the fear of losing what has been acquired.
Moderation is the fear of envy or contempt, which becomes the lot of everyone who is blinded by his happiness; it is vain boasting of the power of the mind.
In order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve the goal. In fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.
I want to eat and sleep.
The time when Francois de La Rochefoucauld lived is usually called the "great age" French literature. His contemporaries were Corneille, Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, Pascal, Boileau. But the life of the author of "Maxim" bore little resemblance to the life of the creators of "Tartuffe", "Phaedra" or "Poetic Art". And he called himself a professional writer only as a joke, with a certain amount of irony. While his fellow writers were forced to look for noble patrons in order to exist, the Duc de La Rochefoucauld was often weary of the special attention that the Sun King gave him. Receiving a large income from vast estates, he could not worry about remuneration for his literary works. And when writers and critics, his contemporaries, were absorbed in heated debates and sharp clashes, defending their understanding of the laws of drama, our author recalled and reflected on those and not at all on literary skirmishes and battles. La Rochefoucauld was not only a writer and not only a moral philosopher, he was a military leader, a political figure. His very life, full of adventure, is now perceived as an exciting story. However, he himself told it - in his Memoirs.
The La Rochefoucauld family was considered one of the most ancient in France - it began in the 11th century. The French kings more than once officially called the seigneurs de La Rochefoucauld "their dear cousins" and entrusted them with honorary positions at court. Under Francis I, in the 16th century, La Rochefoucauld received the title of count, and under Louis XIII - the title of duke and peer. These highest titles made the French feudal lord a permanent member of the Royal Council and Parliament and a sovereign master in his possessions, with the right to judiciary. Francois VI Duke de La Rochefoucauld, who traditionally bore the name of Prince de Marsillac until his father's death (1650), was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. He spent his childhood in the province of Angoumua, in the castle of Verteil, the main residence of the family. The education and training of the Prince de Marcilac, as well as his eleven younger brothers and sisters, was rather careless. As befitted the provincial nobles, he was mainly engaged in hunting and military exercises. But later, thanks to his studies in philosophy and history, reading the classics, La Rochefoucauld, according to contemporaries, becomes one of the most learned people in Paris.
In 1630, Prince de Marcilac appeared at court, and soon took part in the Thirty Years' War. Careless words about the unsuccessful campaign of 1635 led to the fact that, like some other nobles, he was sent to his estates. His father, Francois V, who fell into disgrace for participating in the rebellion of the Duke of Gaston of Orleans, "the permanent leader of all conspiracies", had lived there for several years. The young prince de Marsillac sadly recalled his stay at court, where he took the side of Queen Anne of Austria, whom the first minister, Cardinal Richelieu, suspected of having connections with the Spanish court, that is, of treason. Later, La Rochefoucauld will speak of his "natural hatred" for Richelieu and of the rejection of the "terrible form of his government": this will be the result of life experience and formed political views. In the meantime, he is full of chivalrous loyalty to the queen and her persecuted friends. In 1637 he returned to Paris. Soon he helps Madame de Chevreuse, a friend of the queen, a famous political adventurer, escape to Spain, for which he was imprisoned in the Bastille. Here he had the opportunity to communicate with other prisoners, among whom there were many noble nobles, and received his first political education, assimilating the idea that the "unjust rule" of Cardinal Richelieu was intended to deprive the aristocracy of these privileges and former political role.
On December 4, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu dies, and in May 1643, King Louis XIII. Anna of Austria is appointed regent under the young Louis XIV, and unexpectedly for everyone, Cardinal Mazarin, the successor of Richelieu, turns out to be at the head of the Royal Council. Taking advantage of the political turmoil, the feudal nobility demanded the restoration of the former rights and privileges taken from it. Marsillac enters into the so-called conspiracy of the Arrogant (September 1643), and after the disclosure of the conspiracy, he again goes to the army. He fights under the command of the first prince of the blood, Louis de Bourbron, Duke of Enghien (since 1646 - Prince of Condé, later nicknamed the Great for victories in the Thirty Years' War). In the same years, Marsillac met Condé's sister, the Duchess de Longueville, who would soon become one of the inspirers of the Fronde and long years will be a close friend of La Rochefoucauld.
Marsillac is seriously wounded in one of the battles and forced to return to Paris. While he was fighting, his father bought him the position of governor of the province of Poitou; the governor was the viceroy of the king in his province: in his hands was concentrated all the military and administration. Even before the departure of the newly-made governor to Poitou, Cardinal Mazarin tried to win him over to his side with the promise of the so-called Louvre honors: the right of a stool to his wife (that is, the right to sit in the presence of the queen) and the right to enter the courtyard of the Louvre in a carriage.
The province of Poitou, like many other provinces, was in revolt: taxes were placed on the population with an unbearable burden. A riot was also brewing in Paris. The Fronde has begun. The interests of the Parisian parliament, which led the Fronde at its first stage, largely coincided with the interests of the nobility, who joined the insurgent Paris. Parliament wanted to regain its former freedom in the exercise of its powers, the aristocracy, taking advantage of the king's infancy and general discontent, sought to seize the supreme positions of the state apparatus in order to completely control the country. The unanimous desire was to deprive Mazarin of power and send him out of France as a foreigner. The most famous people of the kingdom were at the head of the rebel nobles, who began to be called Fronders.
Marsillac joined the Fronders, arbitrarily left Poitou and returned to Paris. He explained his personal claims and reasons for participating in the war against the king in the "Apology of Prince Marsillac", which was pronounced in the Paris Parliament (1648). La Rochefoucauld speaks in it of his right to privileges, of feudal honor and conscience, of services to the state and the queen. He accuses Mazarin of the plight of France and adds that his personal misfortunes are closely connected with the troubles of the fatherland, and the restoration of trampled justice will be good for the whole state. In the "Apology" La Rochefoucauld once again appeared specific feature the political philosophy of the insurgent nobility: the conviction that their well-being and privileges constitute the well-being of all France. La Rochefoucauld claims that he could not call Mazarin his enemy before he was declared an enemy of France.
As soon as the riots began, the queen mother and Mazarin left the capital, and soon the royal troops laid siege to Paris. Negotiations for peace began between the court and the Fronders. Parliament, frightened by the scale of the general indignation, abandoned the fight. The peace was signed on March 11, 1649 and became a kind of compromise between the rebels and the crown.
The peace signed in March did not seem lasting to anyone, for it did not satisfy anyone: Mazarin remained the head of the government and pursued the former absolutist policy. A new civil war was caused by the arrest of the Prince of Condé and his associates. The Fronde of Princes began, lasting more than three years (January 1650-July 1653). This last military uprising of the nobility against the new state order assumed a wide scope.
The duke de La Rochefoucauld goes to his domain and collects a significant army there, which unites with other feudal militias. The united forces of the rebels headed for the province of Guyenne, choosing the city of Bordeaux as the center. In Guyenne, popular unrest did not subside, which was supported by the local parliament. The rebellious nobility was especially attracted by the convenient geographical position the city and its proximity to Spain, which closely followed the emerging rebellion and promised the rebels their help. Following feudal morality, the aristocrats did not at all consider that they were committing high treason by entering into negotiations with a foreign power: ancient regulations gave them the right to transfer to the service of another sovereign.
Royal troops approached Bordeaux. A talented military leader and a skilled diplomat, La Rochefoucauld became one of the leaders of the defense. The battles went on with varying success, but the royal army was stronger. The first war in Bordeaux ended in peace (October 1, 1650), which did not satisfy La Rochefoucauld, because the princes were still in prison. The amnesty extended to the duke himself, but he was deprived of the post of governor of Poitou and was ordered to go to his castle of Verteil, ravaged by royal soldiers. La Rochefoucauld accepted this demand with magnificent indifference, notes a contemporary. A very flattering description is given by La Rochefoucauld and Saint Evremond: “His courage and worthy behavior make him capable of any business ... Self-interest is not characteristic of him, therefore his failures are only a merit. will not go down."
The struggle for the release of the princes continued. Finally, on February 13, 1651, the princes received their freedom. The Royal Declaration restored them to all rights, positions and privileges. Cardinal Mazarin, obeying the decree of the Parliament, retired to Germany, but nevertheless continued to rule the country from there - "just as if he lived in the Louvre." Anna of Austria, in order to avoid new bloodshed, tried to attract the nobility to her side, giving generous promises. Court groups easily changed their composition, their members betrayed each other depending on their personal interests, and this drove La Rochefoucauld into despair. The queen nevertheless achieved a division of the dissatisfied: Conde broke with the rest of the Fronders, left Paris and began to prepare for civil war, the third in such a short time. The royal declaration of 8 October 1651 declared the Prince of Condé and his supporters to be traitors to the state; among them was La Rochefoucauld. In April 1652 Condé's army approached Paris. The princes tried to unite with the Parliament and the municipality and at the same time negotiated with the court, seeking new advantages for themselves.
Meanwhile, the royal troops approached Paris. In the battle near the city walls in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine (July 2, 1652), La Rochefoucauld was seriously wounded by a shot in the face and nearly lost his sight. Contemporaries remembered his courage for a very long time.
Despite the success in this battle, the position of the Fronders worsened: discord intensified, foreign allies refused to help. Parliament, having received orders to leave Paris, split. The matter was completed by a new diplomatic trick of Mazarin, who, having returned to France, pretended that he was again going into voluntary exile, sacrificing his interests for the sake of general reconciliation. This made it possible to start peace negotiations, and the young Louis XIV on October 21, 1652. solemnly entered the rebellious capital. Soon the triumphant Mazarin returned there. The parliamentary and noble Fronde came to an end.
Under the amnesty, La Rochefoucauld had to leave Paris and go into exile. The severe state of health after being wounded did not allow him to participate in political speeches. He returns to Angumua, takes care of a derelict household, restores his ruined health and reflects on the events he has just experienced. The fruit of these reflections was the Memoirs, written during the years of exile and published in 1662.
According to La Rochefoucauld, he wrote "Memoirs" only for a few close friends and did not want to make his notes public. But one of the numerous copies was printed in Brussels without the knowledge of the author and caused a real scandal, especially among Condé and Madame de Longueville.
"Memoirs" of La Rochefoucauld merged into common tradition memoir Literature XVII centuries. They summed up a time full of events, hopes and disappointments, and, like other memoirs of the era, they had a certain noble orientation: the task of their author was to comprehend his personal activity as serving the state and prove the validity of his views with facts.
La Rochefoucauld wrote his memoirs in "idleness caused by disgrace." Talking about the events of his life, he wanted to sum up the reflections recent years and understand the historical meaning of the common cause to which he made so many useless sacrifices. He did not want to write about himself. Prince Marsillac, who appears in the Memoirs usually in the third person, appears only occasionally when he takes a direct part in the events described. In this sense, La Rochefoucauld's Memoirs are very different from the Memoirs of his "old enemy" Cardinal Retz, who made himself the protagonist of his narrative.
La Rochefoucauld repeatedly speaks of the impartiality of his story. Indeed, he describes events without allowing himself too personal assessments, but his own position manifests itself in the Memoirs quite distinctly.
It is generally accepted that La Rochefoucauld joined the uprisings as an ambitious man offended by court failures, and also out of a love of adventure, so characteristic of any nobleman of that time. However, the reasons that led La Rochefoucauld to the camp of the Frondeurs were more general in nature and were based on firm principles to which he remained true throughout his life. Having learned the political convictions of the feudal nobility, La Rochefoucauld hated Cardinal Richelieu from his youth and considered unfair the "cruel manner of his rule", which became a disaster for the whole country, because "the nobility was belittled, and the people were crushed by taxes." Mazarin was the successor of Richelieu's policy, and therefore, according to La Rochefoucauld, he led France to destruction.
Like many of his associates, he believed that the aristocracy and the people were bound by "mutual obligations", and he considered his struggle for ducal privileges as a struggle for general well-being and freedom: after all, these privileges were obtained by serving the homeland and the king, and returning them means restoring justice, the very one that should determine the policy of a reasonable state.
But, observing his fellow Fronders, he saw with bitterness "an innumerable number of unfaithful people" ready for any compromise and betrayal. You can’t rely on them, because they, “first joining a party, usually betray it or leave it, following own fears and interests. "With their disunity and selfishness, they ruined the common, sacred in his eyes, the cause of saving France. The nobility turned out to be unable to fulfill the great historical mission. And although La Rochefoucauld himself joined the Fronders after he was denied ducal privileges, his contemporaries recognized his loyalty common cause: no one could accuse him of treason. Until the end of his life, he remained devoted to his ideals and objective in relation to people. In this sense, an unexpected, at first glance, high assessment of the activities of Cardinal Richelieu, which ends the first book of the Memoirs, is characteristic: the greatness of Richelieu's intentions and the ability to put them into practice should drown out private discontent, his memory must be given praise, so justly deserved. The fact that La Rochefoucauld understood the enormous merits of Richelieu and managed to rise above personal, narrow caste and "moral" assessments testifies not only to his patriotism and broad state outlook, but also to the sincerity of his confessions that he was guided not by personal goals, but thoughts about the welfare of the state.
The life and political experience of La Rochefoucauld became the basis of his philosophical views. The psychology of the feudal lord seemed to him typical of a person in general: a particular historical phenomenon turns into a universal law. From the political topicality of the "Memoirs" his thought gradually turns to the eternal foundations of psychology, developed in the "Maxims".
When the Memoirs were published, La Rochefoucauld was living in Paris: he has been living there since the late 1650s. Gradually, his former guilt is forgotten, the recent rebel receives complete forgiveness. (Evidence of the final forgiveness was his award to the members of the Order of the Holy Spirit on January 1, 1662.) The king appoints him a solid pension, his sons occupy profitable and honorable positions. He rarely appears at court, but, according to Madame de Sevigne, the sun king always gave him special attention, and sat next to Madame de Montespan to listen to music.
La Rochefoucauld becomes a regular visitor to the salons of Madame de Sable and, later, Madame de Lafayette. It is with these salons that the Maxims are associated, which forever glorified his name. The rest of the writer's life was devoted to working on them. "Maxims" gained fame, and from 1665 to 1678 the author published his book five times. He is recognized as a major writer and a great connoisseur of human heart. The doors of the French Academy open before him, but he refuses to participate in the competition for an honorary title, as if out of timidity. It is possible that the reason for the refusal was the unwillingness to glorify Richelieu in solemn speech upon admission to the Academy.
By the time La Rochefoucauld began work on Maxims, society had experienced big changes: the time of uprisings is over. a special role in public life countries began to play salons. In the second half of the 17th century, they united people of various social status - courtiers and writers, actors and scientists, military and statesmen. Here it took shape public opinion circles, one way or another participating in the state and ideological life of the country or in the political intrigues of the court.
Each salon had its own face. So, for example, those who were interested in science, especially physics, astronomy or geography, gathered in the salon of Madame de La Sablière. Other salons brought together people close to Jangenism. After the failure of the Fronde, opposition to absolutism was quite pronounced in many salons, taking various forms. In the salon of Madame de La Sablière, for example, philosophical freethinking dominated, and for the hostess of the house, François Bernier, the famous traveler, wrote a "Summary of the Philosophy of Gassendi" (1664-1666). The interest of the nobility in free-thinking philosophy was explained by the fact that they saw in it a kind of opposition to the official ideology of absolutism. The philosophy of Jansenism attracted visitors to the salons because it had its own, special view of the moral nature of man, different from the teachings of orthodox Catholicism, which entered into an alliance with absolute monarchy. Former Frondeurs, having suffered a military defeat, among like-minded people expressed dissatisfaction with the new order in elegant conversations, literary "portraits" and witty aphorisms. The king was wary of both the Jansenists and the freethinkers, not without reason seeing in these teachings a deaf political opposition.
Along with the salons of scientists and philosophy, there were also purely literary salons. Each was distinguished by special literary interests: in some the genre of "characters" was cultivated, in others - the genre of "portraits". In the salon, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, daughter of Gaston d'Orléans, a former active Fronder, preferred portraits. In 1659, La Rochefoucauld's Self-Portrait, his first printed work, was also published in the second edition of the collection "Portrait Gallery".
Among the new genres with which moralistic literature was replenished, the genre of aphorisms, or maxims, was the most widespread. Maxims were cultivated, in particular, in the salon of the Marquise de Sable. The Marquise was known as a smart and educated woman, she was involved in politics. She was interested in literature, and her name was authoritative in literary circles Paris. In her salon, discussions were held on the topics of morality, politics, philosophy, even physics. But most of all, visitors to her salon were attracted by the problems of psychology, the analysis of the secret movements of the human heart. The topic of the conversation was chosen in advance, so that each participant prepared for the game by pondering their thoughts. The interlocutors were required to be able to give a subtle analysis of feelings, a precise definition of the subject. The intuition of the language helped to choose the most suitable from the many synonyms, to find a concise and clear form for his thought - the form of an aphorism. The mistress of the salon herself owns the book of aphorisms Teaching Children and two collections of sayings published posthumously (1678), On Friendship and Maxims, in Peru. Academician Jacques Esprit, his man in the house of Madame de Sable and friend of La Rochefoucauld, entered the history of literature with a collection of aphorisms "The Falsity of Human Virtues". This is how La Rochefoucauld's "Maxims" originally arose. The parlor game suggested to him the form in which he was able to express his views on human nature and sum up his long reflections.
For a long time, there was an opinion in science about the lack of independence of La Rochefoucauld's maxims. Almost in every maxim they found a borrowing from some other sayings, looked for sources or prototypes. At the same time, the names of Aristotle, Epictetus, Cicero, Seneca, Montaigne, Charron, Descartes, Jacques Esprit and others were mentioned. folk proverbs. The number of such parallels could be continued, but external similarity is not evidence of borrowing or lack of independence. On the other hand, indeed, it would be difficult to find an aphorism or a thought that is completely different from everything that preceded them. La Rochefoucauld continued something and at the same time started something new, which attracted interest in his work and made Maxims into in a certain sense eternal value.
"Maxims" demanded intense and continuous work from the author. In letters to Madame de Sable and Jacques Esprey, La Rochefoucauld communicates more and more new maxims, asks for advice, waits for approval and mockingly declares that the desire to write maxims spreads like a runny nose. On October 24, 1660, in a letter to Jacques Esprit, he confesses: "I real writer, once he began to talk about his works. "Segré, Madame de Lafayette's secretary, once noted that La Rochefoucauld reworked individual maxims more than thirty times. All five editions of Maxim published by the author (1665, 1666, 1671, 1675, 1678 .), bear traces of this hard work. It is known that from edition to edition La Rochefoucauld was freed precisely from those aphorisms that directly or indirectly resembled someone else's statement. a lot of strength, had something to say to his contemporaries - he was a man with a well-established worldview, which had already found its original expression in the "Memoirs". La Rochefoucauld's "Maxims" were the result of his long reflections on the past years. The events of a life so fascinating, but also tragic, because it fell to the lot of La Rochefoucauld only to regret the unattained ideals, were realized and rethought by the future famous moralist and became the subject of his literary work.
Death caught him on the night of March 17, 1680. He died in his mansion on the Seine from a severe attack of gout, which tormented him from the age of forty. Bossuet took his last breath.
Recklessness accompanies us all our lives; if anyone seems wise to us, it only means that his folly is in keeping with his age and position.
Prudence and love are not made for each other: as love grows, prudence decreases.
Only those who deserve it are afraid of contempt.
Most of all, it is not intelligence that enlivens conversations, but mutual trust.
Most women give up not because their passion is strong, but because their weakness is great. That is why enterprising men usually have such success, although they are by no means the most attractive.
Most honest women are closed treasures that are intact only because no one has yet searched for them.
Being deceived by friends, we may be indifferent to the manifestations of their friendship, but we must sympathize with them in their misfortunes.
There is such love, which in its highest manifestation leaves no room for jealousy.
There are situations in life that you can get out of them only with the help of a fair amount of recklessness.
In great deeds, one should try not so much to create events as to use those that are presented.
There is everything in red tape, except for love.
In friendship, as in love, what brings happiness more often is what we do not know than what we know.
Politeness is the desire to always be treated with courtesy and to be known as a courteous person.
Generosity neglects everything in order to take possession of everything.
Magnanimity is a noble effort of pride, by which a person masters himself, thereby mastering those around him.
Dignity is an incomprehensible trick of the body, invented to hide the flaws of the mind.
The greatest miracle of love is that it cures coquetry.
The greatest of all flatterers is self-love.
The greatest feat of friendship is not to show a friend our shortcomings, but to open his eyes to his own.
The surest sign of high virtues from birth is not to know envy.
A woman in love is more likely to forgive a big indiscretion than a small infidelity.
In love adventures, there is anything but love.
In people, the qualities that they possess are not so funny as those that they claim to be.
To do justice to one's virtues in private is as reasonable as it is ridiculous to exalt them in the presence of others.
Temperance in food is born either by concern for health, or by the inability to eat much.
The so-called generosity is usually based on vanity, which is dearer to us than everything that we give.
In everyday life, our shortcomings sometimes seem more attractive than our virtues.
There is more selfishness in jealousy than love.
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
Everyone knows enough that it is not proper for a man to talk about his wife, but not enough is known that it is still less fitting for him to talk about himself.
Everyone loves to guess others, but no one likes to be guessed.
In serious matters, care should be taken not so much to create favorable opportunities as to seize them.
All passions in general make us make mistakes, but the funniest of them makes us make love.
Everyone wants to gain fame, but no one wants to lose their life; therefore, the brave show no less resourcefulness and intelligence to avoid death than the chisel-makers to increase the fortune.
The only thing that usually prevents us from completely indulging in one vice is that we have several of them.
Everyone praises his heart, but no one dares to give good review about your mind.
While smart people can express a lot in a few words, limited people, on the contrary, have the ability to talk a lot - and say nothing.
There are more flaws in a man's character than in his mind.
The highest virtue is to do in solitude what men only dare to do in the presence of many witnesses.
The highest skill is to know the true price of everything.
Where there is hope, there is fear: fear is always full of hope, hope is always full of fear.
A genius does not have years - he overcomes everything that stops ordinary minds.
A fool cannot be kind: he has too few brains for that.
It is most difficult to speak just when you are ashamed to remain silent.
It is much easier to get to know a person in general than any person in particular.
Pride does not want to be in debt, and pride does not want to pay.
Pride is inherent in all people: the only difference is where and when they show it.
Pride often stirs up envy in us, and that same pride often helps us deal with it.
The fervor, which grows with the years, already borders on recklessness.
A big name does not exalt, but only humiliates the one who does not know how to wear it with honor.
It sometimes takes as much intelligence to take good advice from others as it does to give good advice to yourself.
The longevity of our passions is no more dependent on us than the longevity of life.
It is more difficult to behave with dignity when fate is favorable than when it is hostile.
If we did not flatter ourselves, we would not be spoiled by the flattery of others.
If we were not overcome by pride, we would not complain about the pride of others.
If someone does good to us, we are obliged to patiently endure the evil caused by this person.
If you judge love by its usual manifestations, it is more like enmity than friendship.
If you want to please others, you must talk about what they love and what touches them, avoid arguing about things that they are indifferent to, rarely ask questions and never give a reason to think that you are smarter.
There are people who are destined to be stupid: they do stupid things not only of their own free will, but also by the will of fate.
There are people who are so flighty and light-weighted that they cannot have any major flaws or real virtues.
There are people who are so absorbed in themselves that, having fallen in love, they manage to think more about their own love than about the object of their passion.
The desire to arouse pity or admiration is what often forms the basis of our frankness.
A woman remains faithful to her first lover for a long time, unless she takes a second.
It is easier for a woman to overcome her passion than her coquetry.
Women are not aware of the boundlessness of their coquetry.
Envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those who are envied.
Evil, like good, has its heroes.
The abuse of cunning speaks of the limitations of the mind; people who try to cover their nakedness in this way in one place inevitably expose themselves in another.
The refinement of the mind is reflected in the ability to subtly flatter.
Grace is to the body what common sense is to the mind.
Sometimes people think they hate flattery when they hate only one form or another of it.
Sometimes it is not so painful for us to submit to the coercion of others, as to force ourselves to something.
Other virtues are like sight or hearing: people deprived of these virtues are not able to see and appreciate them in others.
Some people repel, despite all their advantages, while others attract with all their shortcomings.
Other people are like bank notes, which are accepted at the exchange rate, and not at their face value.
Other shortcomings, if skillfully used, sparkle brighter than any virtues.
Some reproaches sound like praise, but other praises are worse than slander.
Sincerity is sincerity. Few people have this quality.
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
Truly noble people never brag about anything.
True eloquence is the ability to say all that is needed, and no more than is necessary.
Truly clever people pretend all their lives to abhor cunning, but in reality they simply reserve it for exceptional cases that promise exceptional benefits.
Truly soft can only be people with a strong character; for the rest, apparent softness is most often just weakness, which easily turns into anger.
Truth is the fundamental principle and essence of beauty and perfection; beautiful and perfect only that, having everything that it should have, is truly what it should be.
A true friend is the greatest of blessings, and at the same time that blessing, the acquisition of which is least thought of.
As rare as true love is, true friendship is even rarer.
No matter how perceptive a person is, he cannot comprehend all the evil that he does.
No matter how proud people are of the greatness of their deeds, the latter are often the result not of great plans, but of simple chance.
How natural and at the same time how deceitful is a man's belief that he is loved!
Whatever praises may be lavished upon us, we find nothing new in them.
How few old people in the world know the art of being old!
Just those people who, by all means, always want to be right, most often are wrong.
As soon as a fool praises us, he no longer seems so stupid to us.
How often do people use their minds to do stupid things.
When a woman falls in love for the first time, she loves her lover; in the future, she loves only love.
When people no longer love each other, it is difficult for them to find a reason to break up.
When we succeed in fooling others, they rarely appear to us as fools as we seem to ourselves when others succeed in fooling us.
When vices leave us, we try to convince ourselves that we left them.
When a person loves, he often doubts what he believes in most.
Kings deal with people as with coins: they give them a price as they please, and they have to be valued at the rate, and not at the real price.
The collapse of all the hopes of a person is pleasant both to his friends and enemies.
By old age, people become more reckless - and wiser.
By old age, the shortcomings of the mind become more noticeable, as well as the shortcomings of appearance.
He who has never committed recklessness is not as wise as he thinks.
He who loves very much does not notice for a long time that he is no longer loved.
He who is too diligent in small things usually becomes incapable of great things.
Far more unfortunate is the one who likes no one than the one who does not like anyone.
It is much more useful to study not books, but people.
Easy behavior is least disadvantage women of easy virtue.
It is easier to neglect a benefit than to give up a whim.
Flattery is a counterfeit coin that only circulates because of our vanity.
Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice is forced to pay to virtue.
Deprived of insight are not those people who do not reach the goal, but those who pass it by.
Any passion pushes to mistakes, but love pushes to the most stupid ones.
The only reason lovers never miss each other is that they talk about themselves all the time. Love is one, but there are thousands of fakes for it.
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope or fear.
Love is best compared with a fever: the severity and duration of one and the other do not in the least depend on our will.
Any of our shortcomings is more forgivable than the tricks we go to to hide it.
People are flirtatious when they pretend that any kind of coquetry is alien to them.
The people we love almost always have more power over our souls than we do ourselves.
Small-minded people are sensitive to petty offenses; people of great intelligence notice everything and are not offended by anything.
People who are supposedly noble hide their shortcomings both from others and from themselves, while people who are truly noble are well aware of them and openly declare them.
Narrow-minded people usually condemn everything that is beyond their understanding.
People who are not envious are even rarer than those who are disinterested.
People cannot be consoled when they are deceived by enemies or betrayed by friends; but when they deceive themselves, they are sometimes satisfied.
People not only forget good deeds and insults, but even tend to hate their benefactors and forgive offenders. The need to give thanks for good and to avenge evil seems to them a slavery to which they do not want to submit.
Humans are never inordinately good or inordinately bad.
People usually call friendship spending time together, mutual assistance in business, exchange of favors, in a word, such relationships where selfishness hopes to gain something.
People are willing to be silent if vanity does not induce them to speak.
Men are seldom sensible enough to choose useful reproof over dangerous praise.
People would rather agree to slander themselves than to remain silent about themselves.
People of weak character are not able to be sincere.
People stubbornly disagree with the most sound judgments, not because of a lack of insight, but because of an excess of pride: they see that the first rows in a just cause have been sorted out, but they do not want to occupy the last ones.
People often boast of the most criminal passions, but no one dares to confess to envy, a timid and bashful passion.
People who devote themselves too much to small things usually become incapable of doing big ones.
People who are alien to envy are even rarer than those who are disinterested.
Human quarrels would not last so long if all the blame was on one side.
There are few people so wise as to prefer useful censure to harmful praise.
There are few women in the world whose virtues outlive their beauty.
It is not enough to have outstanding qualities, one must also be able to use them.
Small minds are too offended by trifles, great minds also notice all these trifles, but they are never offended by them.
The world is ruled by fate and whim.
Can a person say with certainty what he wants in the future if he is not able to understand what he wants now.
You can be smarter than someone else, but you can't be smarter than everyone else.
You can give reasonable advice to another, but you cannot teach him reasonable behavior.
You can find women who have never had lovers; but it is difficult to find those who would have only one.
You can have merit and not achieve a high position in society, but you cannot achieve it without having at least some merit.
Recklessness can be cured, but a crooked mind cannot be corrected.
A wise man is happy with a little, but a fool is not enough; that is why almost all people are unhappy.
Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.
A wise person understands that it is easier to deny yourself a hobby than to fight it later.
In many ways, we remain beginners, regardless of age, and we often lack experience, despite the number of years we have lived.
We always love those who admire us, but we do not always love those we admire.
We are afraid of everything, as befits mortals, and we want everything, as if we were rewarded with immortality.
We are entering different ages our lives, like newborns, with no experience behind us, no matter how old we are.
We would win in the eyes of people if we appeared to them as we always were and are, and did not pretend to be such as we never were and never will be.
We easily forget our mistakes when they are known only to us alone.
We try less to be happy than to appear so.
We cannot fall in love again with those whom we once really stopped loving.
We do not indulge entirely in one vice, most often because you have several of them.
We are often indulgent towards those who burden us, but we are never condescending to those who are burdened by us.
We don't give away anything as generously as advice.
We willingly forgive our friends shortcomings that do not hurt us.
We readily admit to small shortcomings, wishing to say by this that we have no more important ones.
We help people so that they, in turn, help us; thus, our services are reduced simply to the benefits that we do to ourselves ahead of time.
We are outraged by people who are cunning with us because they consider themselves smarter than us.
We are so fickle in friendship because it is difficult to know the properties of the soul of a person and it is easy to know the properties of the mind.
We do not despise those who have vices, but those who have no virtues.
We rarely fully understand what we really want.
We resist our passions not because we are strong, but because they are weak.
We try to take credit for those shortcomings that we do not want to correct.
We consider sane only those people who agree with us on everything.
We are so intolerant of other people's vanity that it hurts our own.
We are so used to pretending to others that in the end we begin to pretend to ourselves.
We usually praise others only to hear our own praise.
We often look for poisoned praises that indirectly reveal in those whom we praise such defects that we dare not point out directly.
We often stigmatize other people's shortcomings, but rarely, using their example, correct our own.
Hope, however deceptive it may be, nevertheless serves to bring our life to an end along a pleasant path.
Each person, as well as each act, should be looked at from a certain distance.
Some can be understood by looking at them up close, while others become understandable only from a distance.
We are given joy not by what surrounds us, but by our attitude towards the environment, and we are happy having what we love, and not what others consider worthy of love. It is easier for us to love those who hate us than those who love more than we want.
We like to endow ourselves with vices opposite to those we actually have; weak-willed people, for example, like to show off their stubbornness.
We are almost always bored with those people with whom we are not supposed to be bored.
We are almost always bored with those who are bored with us.
We should be surprised only by our ability to be surprised at anything else.
There are few unattainable things in the world; if we had more perseverance, we could find a way to almost any goal.
Ridicule is often a sign of the poverty of the mind: it comes to the rescue when good arguments are lacking.
In the old age of love, as in the old age of years, people still live for sorrows, but no longer live for pleasures.
True friendship does not know envy, and true love does not know coquetry.
Our peace of mind or confusion depends not so much on major events our life, how much from a combination of everyday trifles, successful or unpleasant for us.
Our remorse is usually not so much remorse for the wrong we have done, but fear of the wrong that might be done to us in return.
Our self-esteem suffers more when our tastes are condemned than when our views are condemned. Our enemies are much closer to the truth in their judgments about us than we are ourselves.
Our virtues are most often artfully disguised vices.
Our whims are far more bizarre than the whims of fate.
Our passions are often the offspring of other passions, directly opposed to them: avarice sometimes leads to extravagance, and extravagance to avarice; people are often stubborn out of weakness of character and brave out of cowardice.
Our mind is lazier than the body.
If we did not have shortcomings, we would not be so pleased to notice them in our neighbors.
There are no circumstances so unfortunate that an intelligent person cannot derive some advantage from them, but there are no such happy circumstances that a reckless person cannot turn them against himself.
It is not a great misfortune to serve the ungrateful, but it is a great misfortune to accept a service from a scoundrel.
Infidelity should kill love, and one should not be jealous when there are grounds for this: only those who try not to cause it are worthy of jealousy.
The equanimity that those condemned to death sometimes show, as well as the contempt for death, speaks only of the fear of looking directly into her eyes; therefore, it can be said that both are to their minds what a blindfold is to their eyes.
The equanimity of the sages is just the ability to hide their feelings in the depths of their hearts.
Not every person who has known the depths of his mind has known the depths of his heart.
We prevent our friends from looking into the depths of our hearts, not so much out of distrust of them as out of distrust of ourselves.
It is more shameful not to trust friends than to be deceived by them.
Flaws are sometimes more forgivable than the means used to hide them.
Not to notice the cooling of people means little appreciation of their friendship.
One who is always smart in the same way cannot be liked for a long time.
A man who has never been in danger cannot be held accountable for his courage.
Hatred and flattery are pitfalls against which truth breaks.
Hatred for people who have fallen into mercy is caused by love for this very mercy.
The extraordinary pleasure with which we talk about ourselves should make us suspect that our interlocutors do not at all share it.
The inexorable severity of behavior is contrary to female nature.
Often we would be ashamed of our noblest deeds if those around us knew our motives.
We should not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves.
It is incomparably easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy everything.
Truth is not so beneficent as its appearance is harmful.
There are no more insufferable fools than those who are not completely devoid of mind.
There is no surer way to kindle a passion in another than to keep the cold yourself.
There is no quality rarer than true kindness: most people who consider themselves kind are only condescending or weak.
There is nothing more stupid than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.
There are no such people who, having ceased to love, would not begin to be ashamed of past love.
In no passion does self-love reign so completely as in love; people are always ready to sacrifice the peace of a loved being, if only to preserve their own.
There is nowhere to find peace for those who have not found it in themselves.
No pretense will help to hide love for a long time when it is, or portray it when it is not.
No imagination can come up with such a multitude of contradictory feelings as usually coexist in one human heart.
No one rushes others as much as lazy people: having gratified their laziness, they want to appear diligent.
No flatterer flatters as skillfully as selfishness.
Nothing interferes with naturalness so much as the desire to appear natural.
You need to have a great mind in order to be able not to show your mental superiority.
Usually happiness comes to the happy, and unhappiness to the unfortunate.
The narrowness of our mind leads to stubbornness: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.
It is equally difficult to please someone who loves very much, and someone who no longer loves at all.
Some people have their shortcomings, while others do not even have dignity.
Selfishness blinds some, opens the eyes of others.
The virtues of a man should not be judged by his good qualities, but by how he uses them.
When we are completely bored, we stop being bored.
The most dangerous are those evil people who are not entirely devoid of kindness.
It is dangerous to reproach those who want to be healed of timidity.
The charm of newness in love is like the flowering of fruit trees: it quickly fades and never returns.
With age, people become both dumber and smarter at the same time.
Truly dexterous is he who knows how to hide his dexterity.
Truly extraordinary virtues are possessed by those who have managed to earn the praise of their envious people.
The ostentatious simplicity is a refined hypocrisy.
As long as people love, they forgive.
As long as a person is able to do good, he is not in danger of encountering ingratitude.
Sometimes there are fools and smart; but they are never so in their right mind.
Vices enter into the composition of virtues, as poisons enter into the composition of medicines; prudence confuses them, weakens their effect, and then skillfully uses them as a remedy against life's misfortunes.
The vices of the soul are like the wounds of the body: no matter how carefully they are treated, they still leave scars and can open again at any moment.
Sometimes bad qualities make great talents.
Sometimes it is easier to endure the deceit of the one you love than to hear the whole truth from him.
A decent woman is a hidden treasure; having found it, a wise man will not boast of it.
A decent person can be in love like a madman, but not like a fool.
Constancy in love is of two kinds: we are constant or because we constantly find new qualities in a loved one, worthy of love, or because we consider constancy a duty of honor.
Constancy deserves neither praise nor censure, for it manifests the stability of tastes and feelings, which does not depend on our will.
Praise for kindness is worthy only of a person who has enough strength of character to sometimes be evil; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will.
Betrayals are committed most often not by deliberate intent, but by weakness of character.
Philosophers' contempt for wealth was caused by their secret desire to take revenge on unfair fate for not rewarding them with life's blessings according to their merits; it was a secret remedy from the humiliations of poverty, and a roundabout way to the honor usually brought by wealth.
The habit of constantly being cunning is a sign of a limited mind, and it almost always happens that he who resorts to cunning to cover himself in one place opens up in another.
Confessing to small shortcomings, we thereby try to convince others that we do not have large ones.
A sign of the true dignity of a man is that even those who are envious of him are compelled to praise him.
Decency is the least important of all the laws of society and the most honored.
An example is contagious, therefore all the benefactors of the human race and all the villains find imitators.
We imitate good deeds out of a sense of emulation, but bad deeds out of innate malice, which experience held back, and example unleashed.
Reconciliation with enemies only speaks of fatigue from the struggle, fear of defeat and the desire to take a more advantageous position.
Pretending that we have fallen into a trap set for us, we show a truly refined cunning, because it is easiest to deceive a person when he wants to deceive us.
For the most part, doing evil to people is not as dangerous as doing them too much good.
It is much easier to show wisdom in other people's affairs than in one's own.
The splendor of funeral rites does not so much perpetuate the dignity of the dead, as it pleases the vanity of the living.
The indifference of old age is no more conducive to the salvation of the soul than the ardor of youth.
Separation weakens a slight infatuation, but strengthens a great passion, just as the wind extinguishes a candle, but kindles a fire.
A jealous wife is sometimes even pleasant to her husband: at least he always hears talk about the object of his love.
Jealousy is always born with love, but it does not always die with it.
Jealousy feeds on doubt; it dies or goes berserk as soon as doubt turns into certainty.
The most bizarre recklessness is usually the product of the most refined mind.
The bravest and most intelligent people are those who, under any plausible pretext, try not to think about death.
The most beautiful gift given to people after wisdom is friendship.
Self-interest speaks all languages and plays any role, even the role of selflessness.
Self-interest brings into play all the virtues and all the vices.
With our distrust, we justify someone else's deceit.
The strength and weakness of the spirit are simply incorrect expressions: in reality, there is only a good or bad condition of the organs of the body.
Strongly hinders being smart zealous desire to show off like that.
Modesty enhances dignity and excuses mediocrity.
Weakness of character often consoles us in such misfortunes, in which the mind is powerless to console.
Weakness of character is the only flaw that cannot be corrected.
The glory of great men must always be measured by the ways in which it has been achieved.
Too much hatred puts us below those we hate.
Ridiculous things do more damage to honor than dishonor itself.
Humility often turns out to be a feigned humility, the purpose of which is to subjugate others; it is the trick of pride, which lowers itself in order to exalt itself...
Compassion is often the ability to see one's own misfortunes in others, it is a premonition of disasters that can befall us too.
Fate should be treated like health: when it favors us, enjoy it, and when it starts to be capricious, wait patiently, without resorting to potent means without special need.
Old people are so fond of giving good advice because they are no longer able to set bad examples.
Old age is a tyrant who, on pain of death, forbids us all the pleasures of youth.
Old madmen are even madder than young ones.
Passions are the only orators whose arguments are always convincing; their art is born, as it were, by nature itself and is based on immutable laws. Therefore, a person who is unsophisticated, but carried away by passion, can convince more quickly than an eloquent, but indifferent one.
Passion often turns an intelligent person into a fool, but no less often endows fools with intelligence.
Such injustice and such selfishness are inherent in passions that it is dangerous to trust them and one should beware of them even when they seem quite reasonable.
Fate arranges everything for the benefit of those whom it patronizes.
Fate corrects our shortcomings, which even reason could not correct.
Fate is considered blind mainly by those to whom it does not bestow good luck.
The judgments of our enemies about us are closer to the truth than our own.
There is a degree of happiness and sorrow that is beyond our ability to feel.
There are different cures for love, but none is reliable.
Happy people are incorrigible: fate does not punish them for sins, and therefore they consider themselves sinless.
We experience happiness and unhappiness in proportion to our selfishness.
The happiness and unhappiness of a person depend as much on his temper as on fate.
The happiness of love lies in loving; people are happier when they themselves experience passion than when it is instilled.
It is just as easy to deceive oneself and not notice it, as it is difficult to deceive another and not be exposed.
Those who happened to experience great passions, then all their lives rejoice at their healing, and grieve about it.
The torments of jealousy are the most painful of human torments, and, moreover, least of all inspire sympathy for the one who inflicts them.
Only a combination of circumstances reveals our essence to others and, most importantly, to ourselves.
Only great people have great vices.
Only by being able to listen and respond, you can be a good conversationalist.
The one who fell out of love is usually to blame for not noticing it in time.
Whoever thinks he can do without others is greatly mistaken; but he who thinks that others cannot do without him is still more mistaken.
The one who is cured of love first is always cured more fully.
What people usually call friendship is, in essence, only an alliance, the purpose of which is the mutual preservation of benefits and the exchange of good offices, the most disinterested friendship is nothing but a deal in which our pride always expects to win something.
What we take for nobility often turns out to be disguised ambition, which, despising small benefits, goes straight to big ones.
What we take for virtue is often a combination of selfish desires and deeds artfully chosen by fate or our own cunning; so, for example, sometimes women are chaste, and men are valorous, not at all because they are really characterized by chastity and valor.
Cowards usually do not realize the full force of their fear.
Vanity causes us to act contrary to our tastes much more often than the dictates of reason.
Vanity, shame, and most importantly, temperament - this is what usually underlies male prowess and female virtue.
For most people, the love of justice is simply the fear of being exposed to injustice.
In great people, contempt for death is caused by a blinding love for glory, and in simple people, by a limitation that does not allow them to comprehend the full depth of the misfortune that awaits them and makes it possible to think about extraneous things.
Self-confidence forms the basis of our confidence in others.
Praise avoidance is a request to repeat it.
Human virtues, like fruits, have their seasons.
The mind is always fooled by the heart.
The ability to deftly use mediocre abilities does not inspire respect - and yet often brings people more glory than true dignity.
Smart is not the one whom chance makes smart, but the one who understands what the mind is, knows how to recognize it and admires it.
The temperance of happy people comes from the calmness bestowed by unfailing good fortune.
An intelligent person would often find himself in a difficult situation if he were not surrounded by fools.
A limited but sound mind, after all, is not so tiresome in an interlocutor as a broad but confused mind.
The mind sometimes serves us only in order to boldly do stupid things.
The mind of most women serves not so much to strengthen their prudence, but to justify their recklessness.
The mind cannot play the role of the heart for long.
We have more strength than will, and we often, just to justify ourselves in our own eyes, find many things impossible for us.
We will always have enough strength to endure the misfortune of our neighbor.
We lack the strength of character to dutifully follow all the dictates of reason.
Stubbornness is the offspring of stupidity, ignorance and arrogance.
Human characters, like some buildings, have several facades, and not all of them are pleasant to look at.
Physical labor helps to forget about moral suffering.
Philosophy triumphs over the sorrows of the past and future, but the sorrows of the present triumph over philosophy.
Cunning and betrayal testify only to a lack of dexterity.
Cunning is a sign of a narrow mind.
Good taste speaks not so much of intelligence as of clarity of judgment.
Listening well and responding well is one of the greatest perfections possible in conversation.
Although everyone considers mercy a virtue, it is sometimes born of vanity, often of laziness, often of fear, and almost always of both.
The chastity of women is for the most part simply concern for a good name and peace.
Most often, those people who are firmly convinced of universal sympathy cause hostility.
Most often, those people who feel that they cannot be a burden to anyone are a burden to those around them.
A person is never as unhappy as he thinks, or as happy as he wants.
It is easier for a man to seem worthy of a position he does not hold than of one in which he is.
No matter how we explain our disappointments, most often they are based on deceived self-interest or wounded vanity.
Pure and free from the influence of other passions is only that love that is hidden in the depths of our heart and unknown to us ourselves.
Sincerely praising good works means taking part in them to some extent.
Excessive haste in paying for a service rendered is a kind of ingratitude.
In order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve the goal; in fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.
To become a great man, you need to be able to skillfully use everything that fate offers.
Youth is like intoxication, something like a feverish mind.
Youth changes its tastes because of the ardor of feelings, and old age keeps them unchanged by habit.
Young men often think that they are natural, when in fact they are simply ill-mannered and rude.
It is easier to know people in general than one person in particular.
No matter how deceptive hope is, it still leads us on an easy path until the end of our days.
We find several solutions to the same question, not so much because our mind is very prolific, but because it is not very far-sighted and, instead of settling on the best solution, presents us indiscriminately all the possibilities at once.
Stubbornness is born from the limitations of our mind: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.
It takes unshakable courage to enter into a conspiracy, but ordinary courage is enough to endure the dangers of war.
As rare as true love is, true friendship is even rarer.
There are many such women in the world who have not had a single love affair in their lives, but very few who have had only one.
There are few decent women in the world who would not be ashamed of their virtue.
Most women are so indifferent to friendship because it seems to them insipid in comparison with love.
Constancy in love is an eternal inconsistency that encourages us to be carried away in turn by all the qualities of a loved one, giving preference first to one of them, then to another; thus, constancy turns out to be impermanence, but limited, that is, concentrated on one subject.
A truly worthy person can be in love like a madman, but not like a fool.
The firmness of character makes people resist love, but at the same time it gives this feeling ardor and duration; weak people, on the contrary, are easily ignited by passion, but almost never give themselves up to it with their heads.
Envy is even more irreconcilable than hatred.
There are people who are so absorbed in themselves that, having fallen in love, they manage to think more about their own love than about the object of their passion.
The thirst to deserve the praises lavished upon us strengthens our virtue; thus, the praises of our mind, valor and beauty make us smarter, more valiant and more beautiful.
The gratitude of most people is generated by a hidden desire to achieve even greater benefits.
People's mistakes in their calculations of gratitude for the services rendered by them come from the fact that the pride of the giver and the pride of the receiver cannot agree on the price of the good deed.
There are successful marriages, but there are no delightful marriages.
Why do we remember in great detail what happened to us, but are not able to remember how many times we told the same person about it?
People who believe in their own merits consider it their duty to be unhappy, in order to convince others and themselves that fate has not yet repaid them as they deserved.
Before wishing strongly for something, one should inquire whether the current owner of the desired is very happy.
Our envy is always more durable than someone else's happiness, which we envy.
Our sincerity in no small part is caused by the desire to talk about ourselves and put our shortcomings in a favorable light.
We are more willing to admit to laziness than to our other shortcomings; we have suggested to ourselves that it, without causing great damage to other virtues, only moderates their manifestation.
Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.
No matter how pleasant love is, yet its external manifestations give us more joy than love itself.
Few mistakes are less excusable than the means we use to cover them up.
How clearly people understand their mistakes is evident from the fact that, talking about their behavior, they always know how to put it in a noble light.
Our actions are like the lines of a burime: each connects them with what he pleases.
Sometimes, by shedding tears, we deceive not only others, but also ourselves.
Neither the sun nor death can be looked at point-blank.
Old age is hell for women.
Although the destinies of people are very dissimilar, but some balance in the distribution of blessings and misfortunes, as it were, equalizes them among themselves.
We are tormented not so much by the desire for happiness as by the desire to be known as lucky.
Moderation in life is similar to abstinence in food: I would eat more, but it’s terrible to get sick.
Democracy is dying not because of the weakness of the laws, but because of the weakness of the democrats.
