Seven quotes by La Rochefoucauld
François IV, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. The view of human conduct his writings describe has been summed up by the words ‘everything is reducible to the motive of self-interest,’ though the term ‘gently cynical’ has also been applied. Born in Paris in the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court was oscillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplar of the accomplished 17th Century nobleman. Until 1650, he bore the title of Prince de Marcillac.
Everyone complains about his memory, and no one complains about his judgment.
Tout le monde se plaint de sa mémoire, et personne ne se plaint de son jugement.
[+] It is harder to hide the feelings we have than to feign the ones we do not have.
Il est plus difficile de dissimuler les sentiments que l'on a que de feindre ceux que l'on n'a pas.
[+] Our virtues are most frequently but vices in disguise.
Nos vertus ne sont, le plus souvent, que de vices déguisés.
[+] The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities.
Le mal que nous faisons ne nous attire pas tant de persécution et de haine que nos bonnes qualités.
[+] We all have the strength to endure the misfortunes of others.
Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d'autrui.
[+] We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
Nous pardonnons souvent à ceux qui nous ennuient, mais nous ne pouvons pardonner à ceux que nous ennuyons.
[+] Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
[+]The author info is from Wikipedia, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
The original picture is by Théodore Chassériau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons and has been cropped and converted to greyscale.
