The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
— Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves.
The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.
Nothing prevents one from appearing natural as the desire to appear natural.
What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.
There are heroes in evil as well as in good.
Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.
We always get bored with those whom we bore.
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.
The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.
In all professions each affects a look and an exterior to appear what he wishes the world to believe that he is. Thus we may say that the whole world is made up of appearances.
The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.
The mind is always the patsy of the heart.
When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.
Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.
Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
We seldom find people ungrateful so long as it is thought we can serve them.
Our virtues are often, in reality, no better than vices disguised.
Some people displease with merit, and others' very faults and defects are pleasing.
Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.
Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.
The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.
We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.
It takes nearly as much ability to know how to profit by good advice as to know how to act for one's self.
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.
We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue.
Taste may change, but inclination never.
Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it.
Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.
It is easier to know men in general, than men in particular.
A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.
There is only one kind of love, but there are a thousand imitations.
In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors.
We may sooner be brought to love them that hate us, than them that love us more than we would have them do.
If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us.
Love often leads on to ambition, but seldom does one return from ambition to love.
Jealously is always born with love but it does not die with it.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.
Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
Perfect Valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world.
It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.
We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others.
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.
The only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us.
The passions are the only orators which always persuade.
The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.
We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.
