1,221 Quotes by François de La Rochefoucauld

One kind of flirtation is to boast we never flirt.

Fortune mends more faults in us than ever reason would be able to do.

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.

If we never flattered ourselves we should have but scant pleasure.

Death, like the sun, cannot be looked at steadily.

We are deceived if we think that mind and judgment are two different matters: judgment is but the extent of the light of the mind. This light penetrates to the bottom of matters; it remarks all that can be remarked, and perceives what appears imperceptible. Therefore we must agree that it is the extent of the light in the mind that produces all the effects which we attribute to judgment.

Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.

We say little, when vanity does not make us speak.