129 Quotes By Francois de La Rochefoucauld


It is not enough to have great qualities We should also have the management of them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Nothing is so contagious as example and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

There are a great many men valued in society who have nothing to recommend them but serviceable vices.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

Heat of blood makes young people change their inclinations often, and habit makes old ones keep to theirs a great while.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on great

In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on happiness

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on happiness

Hope, deceiving as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on hope

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld on hope

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 hope