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, having played all the roles in a human comedy in a row and as if tired of its tricks and transformations, suddenly appears with an open face, arrogantly tearing off its 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 all kinds of shades 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 a simple soldier, valor is a dangerous trade, which he undertakes 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 such women in the world who have not had a single love affair in their lives, but very few who have had 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 bearing such a high name so that they can follow their desires with impunity.
The temperance of happy people comes from the calmness 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.
on other topics
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" of 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 did not have to worry about remuneration for his literary labors. 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 upbringing and education 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 would be a close friend of La Rochefoucauld for many years.
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 governor of the king in his province: all military and administrative control was concentrated in his hands. 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 headed the Fronde at its first stage, largely coincided with the interests of the nobility, who joined the insurgent Paris. The 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 dispose of 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 La Rochefoucauld's Apology, a specific feature of the political philosophy of the rebellious nobility was once again manifested: the conviction that its 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 of the city and its proximity to Spain, which closely followed the emerging rebellion and promised its help to the rebels. 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 a 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 without the knowledge of the author in Brussels and caused a real scandal, especially among Condé and Madame de Longueville.
"Memoirs" La Rochefoucauld joined the general tradition of memoir literature of the XVII century. They summed up a time full of events, hopes and disappointments, and, like other memoirs of the era, 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 of recent years and understand the historical meaning of the common cause to which he had 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 is quite clear in the Memoirs.
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 their own fears and interests." By their disunity and selfishness, they ruined the common, sacred in his eyes, cause of saving France. The nobility turned out to be incapable of fulfilling the great historical mission. And although La Rochefoucauld himself joined the Fronders after he was denied ducal privileges, his contemporaries recognized his loyalty to the 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, finishing the first book of "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 great writer and a great connoisseur of the 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 a solemn speech upon admission to the Academy.
By the time La Rochefoucauld began work on Maxims, great changes had taken place in society: the time for uprisings was over. Salons began to play a special role in the public life of the country. 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 the public opinion of the circles that somehow participated in the state and ideological life of the country or in the political intrigues of the court took shape.
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 by the fact that 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 the literary circles of 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. They also talked about 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, in a certain sense, an 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 am a real writer, since I started talking about my works." Segré, Madame de Lafayette's secretary, once remarked that La Rochefoucauld revised individual maxims more than thirty times. All five editions of "Maxim" issued 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. He, who survived the disappointment in his comrades-in-arms and witnessed the collapse of the case, to which he devoted so much strength, had something to say to his contemporaries - he was a man with a fully developed worldview, which had already found its original expression in "Memoirs". "Maxims" La Rochefoucauld were the result of his long reflections on the past years. The events of 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.
Biography
Born September 15, 1613 in Paris, a representative of a noble family. Until the death of his father, he bore the title of Prince of Marsillac. From 1630 he appeared at court, participated in the Thirty Years' War, where he distinguished himself in the battle of Saint-Nicolas. From his youth, he was noted for his wit and boldness of judgment and, by order of Richelieu, was expelled from Paris in 1637. But, while on his estate, he continued to support the supporters of Anna of Austria, whom Richelieu accused of having links with the Spanish court hostile to France. In 1637 he returned to Paris, where he helped the well-known political adventurer and friend of Queen Anne, the Duchess de Chevreuse, escape to Spain. He was imprisoned in the Bastille, but not for long. Despite military exploits in battles with the Spaniards, he again shows independence and is again absent from the court. After the death of Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643), he is again at court, but becomes a desperate opponent of Mazarin. The feeling of hatred for Mazarin is also associated with love for the Duchess de Longueville, princess of royal blood.
The old Duke of La Rochefoucauld bought for his son the post of governor in the province of Poitou, but in 1648 his son left his post and came to Paris. Here he became famous for delivering a speech in Parliament, printed under the heading Apology of the Prince de Marcilac, which became the political creed of the nobility in the civil war. The essence of the declaration was the need to preserve the privileges of aristocrats - as guarantors of the country's well-being. Mazarin, who pursued a policy of strengthening absolutism, was declared an enemy of France. From 1648 to 1653 La Rochefoucauld was one of the main figures of the Fronde. After the death of his father (February 8, 1650), he became known as the Duke de La Rochefoucauld. He led the fight against Mazarin in the southwest of the country, his headquarters was the city of Bordeaux. Defending this area from the royal troops, La Rochefoucauld accepted help from Spain - this did not embarrass him, because according to the laws of feudal morality, if the king violated the rights of the feudal lord, the latter could recognize another sovereign. La Rochefoucauld proved to be the most consistent opponent of Mazarin. He and the Prince of Condé were leaders of the Fronde of Princes. On July 2, 1652, near Paris, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the Frondeur army was decisively defeated by the royal troops. La Rochefoucauld was seriously injured and nearly lost his sight. The war brought devastation to La Rochefoucauld, his estates were plundered, he retired from political activity.
For almost ten years he worked on memoirs, which are among the best memories of the Fronde. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he did not praise himself, but tried to give an extremely objective picture of events. He was forced to admit that most of his associates in the struggle for the rights of the nobility preferred the role of court noble to certain feudal rights. Relatively calmly enduring his ruin, he wrote bitterly about the greed of the princes. In his memoirs, he paid tribute to the state mind of Richelieu and recognized his activities as useful for the country.
La Rochefoucauld devoted the last two decades of his life to literary activity and actively visited literary salons. He worked hard on his main work Maxims - aphoristic reflections on morality. A master of salon conversation, he polished his aphorisms many times, all lifetime editions of his book (there were five of them) bear traces of this hard work. Maxims immediately brought fame to the author. Even the king patronized him. Aphorisms are by no means written impromptu, they are the fruit of great erudition, a connoisseur of ancient philosophy, a reader of Descartes and Gassendi. Under the influence of the materialist P. Gassendi, the author came to the conclusion that human behavior is explained by self-love, the instinct of self-preservation, and morality is determined by the life situation. But La Rochefoucauld cannot be called a heartless cynic. Reason allows a person, he believed, to limit his own nature, to restrain the claims of his egoism. For selfishness is more dangerous than innate ferocity. Few of La Rochefoucauld's contemporaries revealed the hypocrisy and cruelty of the gallant age. The court psychology of the era of absolutism is the most adequate reflection of La Rochefoucauld's Maxims, but their meaning is wider, they are relevant in our time.
Biography
Francois VI de La Rochefoucauld was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. Comes from an old noble family of Poitou. Until the death of his father (his father died in 1650), he bore the title of Prince de Marsillac. His origin determined his future fate: he found himself at the center of palace intrigues. La Rochefoucauld was a brilliant courtier and French writer. He was distinguished by wit, boldness of judgment and, taking part in the political life of his country, found himself in a party hostile to Cardinal Richelieu, his order from Paris in 1637. Then he was briefly imprisoned in the Bastille. Despite military exploits in battles with the Spaniards, he again leaves the court, where he returns after the death of Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643), but again shows his independence and becomes a desperate opponent of Mazarin. The feeling of hatred for Mazarin was also associated with his love for the Duchess de Longueville. She was called the inspirer of the civil war (Fronde). And La Rochefoucauld was forced to join the Fronde, which existed in 1648-1653 (a social movement against absolutism). This movement was headed by Prince Conde, and it consisted of people of different social status.
"Maxims" was one of the popular works for several years in a row. It is not surprising, because the aphoristic clarity of thinking, as well as the fact that La Rochefoucauld did not disguise the desire to note "universal" shortcomings. In 1665, La Rochefoucauld published Meditations, or Moral Sayings. And from 1665 to 1678, 5 revised and supplemented editions were published.
La Rochefoucauld gained considerable experience by becoming a member of the Fronde. All these political games convinced him of only one thing: selfishness is the main motivating factor for a person.
The poet died in Paris in 1680.
Biography
La Rochefoucauld took an active part in the political life of France, was an opponent of Richelieu and Mazarin, played a prominent role in the Fronde movement, and was at the center of great intrigues.
Participated in the Thirty Years' War, where he distinguished himself in the battle of Saint-Nicolas. From his youth, he was distinguished by wit and boldness of judgment, and on the orders of Richelieu was expelled from Paris.
After the death of Richelieu in 1642, he is again at court, but becomes a desperate opponent of Mazarin.
The feeling of hatred for Mazarin is also connected with love for the Duchess de Longueville, who for many years played an important role in the life of La Rochefoucauld, but disappointed in his affection, La Rochefoucauld became a gloomy misanthrope; his only consolation was his friendship with Madame de Lafayette, to whom he remained faithful until his death.
In 1652, near Paris, the army of the Fronders suffered a decisive defeat from the royal troops. La Rochefoucauld was seriously injured and nearly lost his sight. The war brought devastation to La Rochefoucauld, and he retired from political activity.
The story of the pendants of Queen Anne of Austria, which formed the basis of the novel The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas took from the Memoirs of Francois de La Rochefoucauld.
The result of La Rochefoucauld's extensive life experience was his "Maxims" - a collection of aphorisms - this is the fruit of great erudition, a connoisseur of ancient philosophy, a reader of Descartes and Gassendi. The first edition of Maxim was published anonymously in 1665.
Refined style, accuracy, conciseness made La Rochefoucauld's Maxims the most famous and popular among collections of aphorisms. Their author went down in history as a subtle observer, a witty and insightful philosopher, possessing an impeccable style, but clearly disappointed in life.
At the beginning of 1680, La Rochefoucauld's health deteriorated, it became clear that he was dying. Madame de Lafayette spent every day with him. On the night of March 16-17, 1680, at the age of 66, he died in Paris in the arms of his eldest son.
Biography
La Rochefoucauld? an old French noble family from the province of Poitou. The founder - Foucault de La Roche - according to family tradition, the grandson of South II de Lusignan. Princes de Marsillac from 1500, counts from 1517, dukes and peers of France from 1622.
François La Rochefoucauld is a French writer. Duke and brilliant courtier. La Rochefoucauld took an active part in the political life of France of that era, was an opponent of Richelieu and Mazarin, played a prominent role in the Fronde movement, and was at the center of great intrigues.
In 1662 he published his Memoirs, and in 1665 Maxims and Moral Meditations, at first anonymously. From 1665 to 1678, 5 revised and supplemented editions were published. The constant success of "Maxim" is explained by the aphoristic clarity of the author's thinking. The point of view of the aristocrat is not masked by the desire to note the "universal" shortcomings and features of the characters, which served as an invariable subject of discussion in the salons, whose visitors showed their wit in discussing the issues of morality, religion and the nature of emotions put forward by Cartesian philosophy.
Personal experience of the complex political game of “Machiavellianism” of the Fronde era determined the main views of La Rochefoucauld, for whom the main stimulus for human activity is selfishness: a person loves because it is pleasant if he himself is loved, a person is merciful, because it is unpleasant for him to see suffering, etc. in a word, “all virtues are lost in calculation, like rivers in the sea”, and “vices are part of virtues, like poisons are part of medicines.” Contemporaries highly appreciated La Rochefoucauld’s ability to note the subtlest shades of phenomena, to find expressive and at the same extremely concise ideological formulas, his accuracy in characterizing the subject, etc. La Rochefoucauld's main technique is correctly indicated by French criticism - he reduces the virtue in question to an adjacent flaw: generosity or courage - to vanity, honesty - to the desire to inspire confidence for selfish purposes. As a historical and cultural figure, La Rochefoucauld is a typical indicator of the general decadent moments in the ideology of the French aristocracy of the 17th century. The Duke of La Rochefoucauld realized that absolutism had triumphed over that part of the feudal nobility that resisted it. Moreover, he was convinced that she would sell her claims to political power for the benefits that absolutism would provide her. La Rochefoucauld, during his turbulent life, had to be a witness to how imaginary these virtues turned out to be in the new socio-political conditions. Hence - the extreme pessimism, misanthropy of La Rochefoucauld, generalizing his disappointment in his class stratum. The decomposition of the latter, the weakening of social ties in it, determined the extreme individualism of La Rochefoucauld, his focus on personal experiences, which are subjected to heightened introspection. La Rochefoucauld's belief in the depravity of human nature is only formally connected with Jansenism, a religious movement popular at that time, but in essence it is a product of the crisis of the worldview of the feudal-aristocratic groups that opposed absolutism.
Biography
Arochefoucauld Francois de, French moralist writer and brilliant courtier, was born in 1613 in Paris in the family of a duke, his origin predetermined his future fate, throwing him into the thick of palace intrigues. La Rochefoucauld took an active part in the political life of France of that era, he found himself in a political party hostile to Cardinal Richelieu (only after the death of the latter did La Rochefoucauld begin to play a prominent role at court) and was forced to join the Fronde, a broad social movement against absolutism that existed in 1648- 1653 and consisting of people of different social status, headed by the Prince of Condé.
For many years, the Duchess of Longueville played a large role in his personal life, for the love of which he more than once refused the impulses of ambition. Disappointed in his attachment, La Rochefoucauld became a gloomy misanthrope; his only consolation was his friendship with Madame de Lafayette, to whom he remained faithful until his death. Having retired from the court, La Rochefoucauld maintained a close relationship with the salons of Madame Sablé and Madame de Lafayette. The last years of La Rochefoucauld were overshadowed by various hardships, the death of his son, illnesses.
In 1662 he published Memoirs, and in 1665 Meditations, or Moral Sayings (1665), better known as Maxims. From 1665 to 1678, 5 revised and supplemented editions were published. The constant success of "Maxim" over the course of several years is explained by the aphoristic clarity of the author's thinking. The point of view of the aristocrat is not masked by the desire to note the "universal" shortcomings that served as an invariable subject of discussion in secular salons. The personal experience of the political game of the Fronde era determined the main views of the author - the main motivating factor of a person is selfishness: a person loves, because it is pleasant if they love him, etc. The main aphorism of La Rochefoucauld: "all our virtues are hidden vices."
La Rochefoucauld had a chance to witness how imaginary these virtues sometimes turned out to be in the new socio-political conditions. Hence his extreme pessimism and misanthropy, which characterize his disappointment in his class stratum and his unchanging conviction in the depravity of human nature.
La Rochefoucauld died in Paris in 1680.
The story of the pendants of Queen Anne of Austria, which formed the basis of the novel The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas took from Francois de La Rochefoucauld's Memoirs.
Biography
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (09/15/1613 - 02/17/1680) was a famous French philosopher who belonged to the ancient French family of La Rochefoucauld. La Rochefoucauld is an ancient aristocratic family. This family dates back to the 11th century, from Foucault I lord de Laroche, whose descendants still live in the family castle of La Rochefoucauld near Angouleme. François was brought up at court and from his youth was involved in various court intrigues. Having adopted from his father hatred for the cardinal
Richelieu often quarreled with the duke, and only after the death of the latter did he begin to play a prominent role at court. During his life, La Rochefoucauld was the author of many intrigues. In 1962, they were carried away by “maxims” (accurate and witty statements) - La Rochefoucauld began work on his collection “Maxim”. "Maximes" (Maximes) - a collection of aphorisms that make up an integral code of worldly philosophy. The release of the first edition of "Maxim" was facilitated by friends of La Rochefoucauld, who sent one of the author's manuscripts to Holland in 1664, thereby infuriating Francois. Maxims made an indelible impression on contemporaries: some found them cynical, others excellent. In 1679, the French Academy invited La Rochefoucauld to become a member, but he refused, probably considering that it was unworthy of a nobleman to be a writer. Despite a brilliant career, most considered La Rochefoucauld an eccentric and a loser.
Biography
French writer and moralist. Participated in palace intrigues against Cardinal Richelieu. In his "Memoirs", covering the events of 1624-1652, he opposed absolutism.
The main work of La Rochefoucauld - "Reflections, or Moral sayings and maxims" - is the philosophical result of his observations on the mores of French society. He considered selfishness and selfish calculation (“interest”) to be the main driving forces of human behavior.
This idea, expressed by T. Hobbes and very common among many thinkers of that era, acquires a special novelty from the writer thanks to his subtle psychological analysis of the mores of the French aristocracy and, above all, those conscious, and more often unconscious tricks with which the true motives and interests are masked fictitious ethical ideals.
La Rochefoucauld is a master of aphoristic style.
Biography (en.wikipedia.org)
He was brought up at court, from his youth he was involved in various intrigues, was at enmity with the Duke de Richelieu, and only after the death of the latter did he begin to play a prominent role at court. He took an active part in the Fronde movement and was seriously wounded. He occupied a brilliant position in society, had many secular intrigues and experienced a number of personal disappointments that left an indelible mark on his work. For many years, the Duchess de Longueville played a large role in his personal life, out of love for whom he more than once abandoned his ambitious motives. Frustrated with his attachment, La Rochefoucauld became a gloomy misanthrope; his only consolation was his friendship with Madame de Lafayette, to whom he remained faithful until his death. The last years of La Rochefoucauld were overshadowed by various hardships: the death of his son, illnesses.
literary heritage
Maxims
The result of La Rochefoucauld's extensive life experience was his "Maximes" (Maximes) - a collection of aphorisms that make up an integral code of everyday philosophy. The first edition of "Maxim" was published anonymously in 1665. Five editions, increasingly enlarged by the author, appeared during the life of La Rochefoucauld. La Rochefoucauld is extremely pessimistic about human nature. The main aphorism of La Rochefoucauld: "Our virtues are most often skillfully disguised vices." At the basis of all human actions, he sees pride, vanity and the pursuit of personal interests. Depicting these vices and drawing portraits of ambitious and selfish, La Rochefoucauld mainly has in mind people of his own circle, the general tone of his aphorisms is extremely poisonous. He is especially successful in cruel definitions, well-aimed and sharp as an arrow, for example, the saying: "We all have a sufficient share of Christian patience to endure the suffering ... of other people." The purely literary meaning of "Maxim" is very high.
Memoirs
An equally important work of La Rochefoucauld was his Memoirs (Memoires sur la regence d'Anne d'Autriche), first edition - 1662. A valuable source about the times of the Fronde. La Rochefoucauld describes political and military events in detail; he speaks of himself in the third person.
The story of the pendants of Queen Anne of Austria, which formed the basis of the novel The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas took from the Memoirs of Francois de La Rochefoucauld. In the novel Twenty Years Later, La Rochefoucauld is portrayed under his former title, Prince de Marsillac, as a man who is trying to kill Aramis, who is also favored by the Duchess de Longueville. According to Dumas, even the father of the Duchess's child was not La Rochefoucauld (as the rumors insisted in reality), but Aramis.
Family and Children
Parents: Francois V (1588-1650), Duke de La Rochefoucauld and Gabrielle du Plessis-Liancourt (d. 1672).
Wife: (since January 20, 1628, Mirebeau) André de Vivonne (d. 1670), daughter of Andre de Vivonne, seigneur de la Berodier and Marie Antoinette de Lomeni. Had 8 children:
* François VII (1634-1714), Duc de La Rochefoucauld
* Charles (1635-1691), Knight of the Order of Malta
* Marie Catherine (1637-1711), known as Mademoiselle de La Rochefoucauld
* Henriette (1638-1721), known as Mademoiselle de Marsillac
* Françoise (1641-1708), known as Mademoiselle d'Anville
* Henri Achille (1642-1698), abbé de la Chaise-Dieu
* Jean Baptiste (1646-1672), known as Chevalier de Marsillac
* Alexander (1665-1721), known as Abbé de Verteil
Extramarital affair: Anna Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé (1619-1679), Duchess de Longueville, had a son:
* Charles Paris de Longueville (1649-1672), Duke de Longueville, was one of the candidates for the Polish throne
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 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 able to please someone who is smart in one way for a long time
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 of high virtues is not to know envy from birth
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 our 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 crappy apples, and the most talented person gives in to a business, although an ordinary one, but given only to those who are capable of this business. 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 blame 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 is happy 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 self-love 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 look closely at her influence, we will be convinced that she invariably manages to take possession of all our feelings, desires and pleasures: she 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 illness 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 to say the right word at the right moment is a great art, then to remain silent at the right time is an even greater art. Eloquent silence 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.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld - French writer, moralist, philosopher. Born in Paris on September 15, 1613, he was a descendant of a famous ancient family; before the Duke's father died in 1650, he was called Prince de Marsillac. Having spent all his childhood in Angouleme, La Rochefoucauld, a 15-year-old teenager, moved to the French capital with his parents, and in the future his biography is connected with life at court. By the will of fate, even in his youth, La Rochefoucauld plunged into palace life, full of intrigues, joys, achievements and disappointments associated with secular and personal life, and this left an imprint on all his work.
Being an active participant in political life, he took the side of the opponents of Cardinal Richelieu, joining the Fronde, which was headed by Prince Condé. Under the banner of the struggle against absolutism, people of different social status participated in this social movement. La Rochefoucauld directly participated in the battles and even received a gunshot wound in 1652, which caused great damage to his eyesight. In 1653 he inherited the title of duke from his deceased father. In the biography of La Rochefoucauld, there was a period of estrangement from court society, during which, however, he did not lose good relations with women who were considered outstanding representatives of their time, in particular, with Madame de Lafayette.
In 1662, the “Memoirs of La Rochefoucauld” was first published, in which, on behalf of a third person, he tells about the military and political events of the Fronde, 1634-1652. His work is a very important source of information about this period of struggle against absolutism.
For all the significance of the Memoirs, the work of François de La Rochefoucauld, the quintessence of his everyday experience, is considered to be the collection of aphorisms Meditations, or Moral Sayings, which became more famous under the name Maxims, and is even more important for the creative path. The first edition appeared anonymously in 1665, and a total of five editions were published up to 1678, each of which was supplemented and revised. The red thread in this work is the idea that the main motives for any human actions are selfishness, vanity, the priority of personal interests over others. In essence, it was not new, many thinkers of that time were very far from idealizing human behavior. However, the success of La Rochefoucauld's creation was based on the subtlety of the psychological analysis of the mores of society, accuracy, skillfulness of examples illustrating his position, aphoristic clarity, brevity of the language - it is no coincidence that the Maxims are of great literary value.
François de La Rochefoucauld developed a reputation as a misanthrope and pessimist, which was facilitated not only by his good knowledge of people, but also by personal circumstances, disappointment in love. In the last years of his life, troubles haunted him: ailments, the death of his son. On March 17, 1680, the famous aristocrat and denouncer of human nature died in Paris.
