Francois de La Rochefoucauld Standing Quotations

Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.

Gracefulness is to the body what understanding is to the mind.

We like to read others but we do not like to be read.

It is a common fault never to be satisfied with our fortune, nor dissatisfied with our understanding.

Commonplace minds usually condemn what is beyond the reach of their understanding.

Idleness and constancy fix the mind to what it finds easy and agreeable. This habit always confines and cramps up our knowledge; and no one has ever taken the trouble to stretch and carry his understanding as far as it could go.

The thing that makes our friendships so short and changeable is that the qualities and dispositions of the soul are very hard to know, and those of the understanding and wit very easy.

A man of understanding finds less difficulty in submitting to a wrong-headed fellow, than in attempting to set him right.

Everyone praises his heart, none dare praise their understanding.