Francois de La Rochefoucauld Men Quotations

It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated; and we are very loath to believe what we are not able to comprehend.

There are but very few men clever enough to know all the mischief they do.

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.

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.

When a man is in love, he doubts, very often, what he most firmly believes.

When a man must force himself to be faithful in his love, this is hardly better than unfaithfulness.

Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice.

There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.

Many men are contemptuous of riches; few can give them away.

If it were not for the company of fools, a witty man would often be greatly at a loss.

It is with an old love as it is with old age a man lives to all the miseries, but is dead to all the pleasures.

No man deserves to be praised for his goodness, who has it not in his power to be wicked. Goodness without that power is generally nothing more than sloth, or an impotence of will.

A man's worth has its season, like fruit.

A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win.

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.

Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.

There are a great many men valued in society who have nothing to recommend them but serviceable vices.

The accent of a man's native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.

Men often pass from love to ambition, but they seldom come back again from ambition to love.

He is not to pass for a man of reason who stumbles upon reason by chance but he who knows it and can judge it and has a true taste for it.

A great many men's gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter.

Old men are fond of giving good advice to console themselves for their inability to give bad examples.

It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.

No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so.

There is nothing men are so generous of as advice.

Nature seems at each man's birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices, and to have determined how good or how wicked that man shall be capable of being.

The man that thinks he loves his mistress for her own sake is mightily mistaken.

If a man doesn't find ease in himself, 'tis in vain to seek it elsewhere.

However wicked men may be, they do not dare openly to appear the enemies of virtue, and when they desire to persecute her they either pretend to believe her false or attribute crimes to her.

Passion often renders the most clever man a fool, and sometimes renders the most foolish man clever.

A man cannot please long who has only one kind of wit.

Virtue is the habit of acting according to wisdom. GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ, "Felicity", Leibniz: Political Writings Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered. JOHN LOCKE, Some Thoughts Concerning Education However wicked men may be, they do not dare openly to appear the enemies of virtue, and when they desire to persecute her they either pretend to believe her false or attribute crimes to her.

Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.

To be a great man it is necessary to know how to profit by the whole of our good fortune.

Men and things have each their proper perspective; to judge rightly of some it is necessary to see them near, of others we can never judge rightly but at a distance.

A man for whom accident discovers sense, is not a rational being. A man only is so who understands, who distinguishes, who tests it.

A clever man reaps some benefit from the worst catastrophe, and a fool can turn even good luck to his disadvantage.

A man's happiness or unhappiness depends as much on his temperament as on his destiny.

Hope is the last thing that dies in man; and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this good use to us, that while we are traveling through life it conducts us in an easier and more pleasant way to our journey's end.

The strongest symptom of wisdom in man is his being sensible of his own follies.

A man would rather say evil of himself than say nothing.

No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.

Silence is the safest course for any man to adopt who distrust himself.

When great men permit themselves to be cast down by the continuance of misfortune, they show us that they were only sustained by ambition, and not by their mind; so that PLUS a great vanity, heroes are made like other men.

The simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without.

Though most of the friendships of the world ill deserve the name of friendships; yet a man may make use of them on occasion, as of a traffic whose returns are uncertain, and in which 'tis usual to be cheated.

Only great men have great faults.

A resolution never to deceive exposes a man to be often deceived.

Men may boast of their great actions; but they are more often the effects of chance than of design.

A man often imagines that he acts, when he is acted upon.

More men are guilty of treason through weakness than any studied design to betray.

The man who leaves a woman best pleased with herself is the one whom she will soonest wish to see.

The passions are the only orators that always persuade: they are, as it were, a natural art, the rules of which are infallible; and the simplest man with passion is more persuasive than the most eloquent without it.

Hope is the last thing that dies in man.

It is the prerogative of great men only to have great defects.

There is no accident so unfortunate but wise men will make some advantage of it, nor any so entirely fortunate but fools may turn it to their own prejudice.

He that would be a great man must learn to turn every accident to some advantage.

Ability wins us the esteem of the true men; luck, that of the people.

In every walk of life each man puts on a personality and outward appearance so as to look what he wants to be thought; in fact you might say that society is entirely made up of assumed personalities.

Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.

However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack it they pretend to find it spurious , or impute crimes to it.

There is scarcely any man sufficiently clever to appreciate all the evil he does.

However much we may distrust men's sincerity, we always believe they speak to us more sincerely than to others.

Men would not live in society long if they were not each others dupes.

The greater part of mankind judge of men only by their fashionableness or their fortune.

Love of fame, fear of disgrace, schemes for advancement, desire to make life comfortable and pleasant, and the urge to humiliate others are often at the root of the valour men hold in such high esteem.

Nothing ought more to humiliate men who have merited great praise than the care they still take to boast of little things.

A man, in order to establish himself in the world, does everything he can to appear established there.

We should not judge a man's merits by his great qualities, but by the use he makes of them.

Most people judge men by their success or their good fortune.

It is easier to understand mankind in general than any individual man.

The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits.

A clever man should handle his interests so that each will fall in suitable order of their value.

Love of glory, fear of shame, greed for fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others - all of these are often the causes of the bravery that is spoken so highly of by men.

We label judges with having the meanest motives, and yet we desire that our reputation and fame should depend upon the judgment of men, who are all, either from their jealousy or preoccupation or want of intelligence, opposed to us - and yet despite their bias, just for the sake of making these men decide in our favor, we peril in so many ways both our peace and our life.

A man convinced of his own merit will accept misfortune as an honor, for thus can he persuade others, as well as himself, that he is a worthy target for the arrows of fate.

There are no events so disastrous that adroit men do not draw some advantage from them, nor any so fortunate that the imprudent cannot turn to their own prejudice.

He is a truly virtuous man who wishes always to be open to the observation of honest men.

The happiness and unhappiness of men depends as much on their ethics as on fortune.

It is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave, and women chaste.

Vanity, shame, and above all disposition, often make men brave and women chaste.

The measure of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.

There is such a thing as a general revolution which changes the taste of men as it changes the fortunes of the world.

For most men the love of justice is only the fear of suffering injustice.

Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.

Passion often makes fools of the wisest men and gives the silliest wisdom.

We are all strong enough to bear other men's misfortunes.

Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.

The fame of great men ought to be judged always by their big, fancy names.

A man often believes himself leader when he is led; as his mind endeavors to reach one goal, his heart insensibly drags him towards another.

The great interests of man: air and light, the joy of having a body, the voluptuousness of looking.

If it were not for poetry, few men would ever fall in love.

Men have written in the most convincing manner to prove that death is no evil, and this opinion has been confirmed on a thousand celebrated occasions by the weakest of men as well as by heroes. Even so I doubt whether any sensible person has ever believed it, and the trouble men take to convince others as well as themselves that they do shows clearly that it is no easy undertaking.

Humility is often only a feigned submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a more calculated sort of pride.

Few things are needful to make the wise man happy, but nothing satisfies the fool; - and this is the reason why so many of mankind are miserable.

A man may be sharper than another, but not than all others.

Passion often makes a fool of the cleverest man and often makes the most foolish men clever

The man whom no one pleases is much more unhappy than the man who pleases no one.

Most men, like plants, possess hidden qualities which chance discovers.