Love can no more continue without a constant motion than fire can and when once you take hope and fear away, you take from it its very life and being. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on fear
What men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on friendship
If we are to judge of love by its consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on friendship
In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on friendship
Philosophy finds it an easy matter to vanquish past and future evils, but the present are commonly too hard for it. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on future
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on good
Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on good
We seldom find any person of good sense, except those who share our opinions. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on good
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great
As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great
There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great
What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great
A great many men's gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great
However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and intention. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great
They that apply themselves to trifling matters commonly become incapable of great ones. Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great