Maxims by La Rochefoucauld
Maxims by La Rochefoucauld
Three Point Summary | 17th century French dude spits shocking bars
Born in 17th-century Paris, François de La Rochefoucauld was a writer of Maximes, many of which expose the darker sides of human nature.
I found myself sometimes uncomfortable (and sometimes laughing out loud) while reading these cynical sayings—because they have much truth in them.
The following is a collection of the best quotes from the book. I split it into 3 parts.
Selfishness
Relationships
The Mind
Go ahead, La Rochefoucauld, go stupid:
I. Selfishness
“A bore, somebody has said, is a fool who insists on telling you about himself when you want to tell him about yourself.”
“Most men’s gratitude is but a covert desire to receive greater gifts.”
“Although pride has a thousand ways of transforming itself it is never so well disguised and able to take people in as when masquerading as humility.”
“Self-interest, blamed for all our misdeeds, often deserves credit for our good actions.”
“What passes for generosity is often merely ambition in disguise, scorning petty interests so as to make for greater.”
“No people are more often wrong than those who cannot bear to be.”
“What makes the vanity of others intolerable is that it hurts our own.”
“There are various forms of curiosity: one, based on self-interest, makes us want to learn what may be useful, another, based on pride, comes from a desire to know what others don’t.”
“The first impulse of joy we get from our friends’ good luck comes neither from our kindness of heart nor from the affection we feel for them: it is an effect of self-love which holds out hopes that we may in our turn be lucky or derive some benefit from their good fortune.”
“It is as easy to deceive ourselves without noticing it as it is hard to deceive others without their noticing.”
“When vanity is not prompting us we have little to say.”
II. Relationships
“Nothing is so contagious as example, and our every really good or bad action inspires a similar one.”
“It is impossible to love for a second time anything you have really ceased to love.”
“Eloquence resides no less in a person’s tone of voice, expression, and general bearing than in his choice of words.”
“Where love is, no disguise can hide it for long; where it is not, none can simulate it.”
“We are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves.”
“Friendships taken up again need more care than friendships never dropped.”
“Each one of us finds in others the very faults others find in us.”
“There are few sensible people, we find, except those who share our opinions.”
“Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example.”
“Our enemies are nearer the truth in their opinion of us than we are ourselves.”
“Though we often persuade ourselves that we like people more influential than ourselves, our friendship is really based on self-interest alone. We do not give them our affection for the good we want to do them but for the good we want to get out of them.”
“We enjoy seeing through others, but not being seen through.”
“Few people are wise enough to prefer useful criticism to the sort of praise which is their undoing.”
“Two subjects lead sooner or later to hot tempers, shrill monologues, rudeness, boredom, and all kinds of social discomforts: one is religion and the other politics.”
“Some people are so shallow and frivolous that they are as far removed from having any real faults as from having any solid virtues.”
“To refuse to accept praise is to want to be praised twice over.”
III. The Mind
“Some men are destined to be fools, and they do foolish things not from choice but because fate herself compels them to.”
“People too much taken up with little things usually become incapable of big ones.”
“Supreme cleverness is knowledge of the real value of things.”
“When you cannot find your peace in yourself it is useless to look for it elsewhere.”
“Great souls are not those with fewer passions and more virtues than the ordinary run, but simply those with a stronger sense of purpose.”
“Little is needed to make a wise man happy, but nothing can content a fool. That is why nearly all men are miserable.”
“The man who lives without folly is not as wise as he thinks.”
“As the stamp of great minds is to suggest much in few words, so, contrariwise, little minds have the gift of talking a great deal and saying nothing.”
“Hope and fear are inseparable, and there is no fear without hope nor hope without fear.”
“We are often prevented from appreciating aphorisms proving the falseness of the virtues by our excessive readiness to believe that in our own case these are genuine.”
Anyone who knows me knows I’m an optimistic and positive person. Yes. But not without a drop of poison—thanks to ideas in books like these being backed up by personal experience. La Rochefoucauld shows many of the all-too-real aspects of human nature that are necessary to be aware of in order to get along in the world.