Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
If we had no faults, we should not take so much
To succeed in the world we do everything we can to
Those who apply themselves too much to little things
The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.
Self-interest speaks all sorts of tongues and plays
Philosophy triumphs easily over past and future evils;
We should not be upset that others hide the truth from us,
Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few
people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation
to win the confidence of others.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation
Our repentance is not so much sorrow for the ill we have
Fortunate people seldom mend their ways, for when good
luck crowns their misdeeds with success they think it is
because they are right.
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
pleasure in noting those of others.
appear successful already.
often become incapable of great ones.
We should often be ashamed of our very best actions
if the world only saw the motives which caused them.
all sorts of characters, even that of disinterestedness.
but present evils triumph over it.
when we hide it so often from ourselves.
In all professions we affect a part and an appearance to
seem what we wish to be. Thus the world is merely composed of actors.
for the fact that they can no longer provide bad examples.
done as a fear of the ill that may befall us.
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