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| John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. |
| François, duc de La Rochefoucauld. (1613–1680) |
| 1 |
| Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised. 1 |
| Maxim 19. |
| 2 |
| We have all sufficient strength to endure the misfortunes of others. |
| Maxim 19. |
| 3 |
| Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it. 2 |
| Maxim 22. |
| 4 |
| We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune. |
| Maxim 25. |
| 5 |
| Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye. |
| Maxim 26. |
| 6 |
| Interest speaks all sorts of tongues, and plays all sorts of parts, even that of disinterestedness. |
| Maxim 39. |
| 7 |
| We are never so happy or so unhappy as we suppose. |
| Maxim 49. |
| 8 |
| There are few people who would not be ashamed of being loved when they love no longer. |
| Maxim 71. |
| 9 |
| True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen. |
| Maxim 76. |
| 10 |
| The love of justice is simply, in the majority of men, the fear of suffering injustice. |
| Maxim 78. |
| 11 |
| Silence is the best resolve for him who distrusts himself. |
| Maxim 79. |
| 12 |
| Friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests, and an exchange of good offices; it is a species of commerce out of which self-love always expects to gain something. |
| Maxim 83. |
| 13 |
| A man who is ungrateful is often less to blame than his benefactor. |
| Maxim 96. |
| 14 |
| The understanding is always the dupe of the heart. |
| Maxim 102. |
| 15 |
| Nothing is given so profusely as advice. |
| Maxim 110. |
| 16 |
| The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others. |
| Maxim 127. |
| 17 |
| Usually we praise only to be praised. |
| Maxim 146. |
| 18 |
| Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence. |
| Maxim 180. |
| 19 |
| Most people judge men only by success or by fortune. |
| Maxim 212. |
| 20 |
| Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue. |
| Maxim 218. |
| 21 |
| Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude. |
| Maxim 226. |
| 22 |
| There is great ability in knowing how to conceal one’s ability. |
| Maxim 245. |
| 23 |
| The pleasure of love is in loving. We are happier in the passion we feel than in that we inspire. 3 |
| Maxim 259. |
| 24 |
| We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire. |
| Maxim 294. |
| 25 |
| The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits. 4 |
| Maxim 298. |
| 26 |
| Lovers are never tired of each other, though they always speak of themselves. |
| Maxim 312. |
| 27 |
| We pardon in the degree that we love. |
| Maxim 330. |
| 28 |
| We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with with us. 5 |
| Maxim 347. |
| 29 |
| The greatest fault of a penetrating wit is to go beyond the mark. |
| Maxim 377. |
| 30 |
| We may give advice, but we cannot inspire the conduct. |
| Maxim 378. |
| 31 |
| The veracity which increases with old age is not far from folly. |
| Maxim 416. |
| 32 |
| In their first passion women love their lovers, in all the others they love love. 6 |
| Maxim 471. |
| 33 |
| Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side. |
| Maxim 496. |
| 34 |
| In the adversity of our best friends we often find something that is not exactly displeasing. 7 |
| Note 1. This epigraph, which is the key to the system of La Rochefoucauld, is found in another form as No. 179 of the Maxims of the first edition, 1665; it is omitted from the second and third, and reappears for the first time in the fourth edition at the head of the Reflections.—Aime Martin. [back] |
| Note 2. See Goldsmith, Quotation 75. [back] |
| Note 3. See Shelley, Quotation 15. [back] |
| Note 4. See Walpole, Quotation 4. [back] |
| Note 5. ”That was excellently observed,” say I when I read a passage in another where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, then I pronounce him to be mistaken.—Jonathan Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects. [back] |
| Note 6. See Byron, Quotation 209. [back] |
| Note 7. This reflection, No. 99 in the edition of 1665, the author suppressed in the third edition. In all distresses of our friends We first consult our private ends; While Nature, kindly bent to ease us, Points out some circumstance to please us. Dean Swift: A Paraphrase of Rochefoucauld’s Maxim. [back] |
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