Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims — François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

François de La Rochefoucauld · Άδεια: Public domain · Πηγή

• XXXIII.--Natural ferocity makes fewer people cruel than self-love. (1665, No. 174.) ¶738
• XXXIV.--One may say of all our virtues as an Italian poet says of the propriety of women, that it is often merely the art of appearing chaste. (1665, No. 176.) ¶739
• XXXV.--There are crimes which become innocent and even glorious by their brilliancy,* their number, or their excess; thus it happens that public robbery is called financial skill, and the unjust capture of provinces is called a conquest. (1665, No. 192.) ¶740
• *Some crimes may be excused by their brilliancy, such as those of Jael, of Deborah, of Brutus, and of Charlotte Corday--further than this the maxim is satire. ¶741
• XXXVI.--One never finds in man good or evil in excess. (1665, No. 201.) ¶742
• XXXVII.--Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not easily suspect others. (1665, No. {2}08.) ¶743
• {The text incorrectly numbers this maxim as 508. It is 208.} ¶744
• XXXVIII.--The pomp of funerals concerns rather the vanity of the living, than the honour of the dead. (1665, No. 213.) ¶745
• XXXIX.--Whatever variety and change appears in the world, we may remark a secret chain, and a regulated order of all time by Providence, which makes everything follow in due rank and fall into its destined course. (1665, No. 225.) ¶746
• XL.--Intrepidity should sustain the heart in conspiracies in place of valour which alone furnishes all the firmness which is necessary for the perils of war. (1665, No. 231.) ¶747
• XLII.--That man who has never been in danger cannot answer for his courage. (1665, No. 236.) ¶749
• XLIII.--We more often place bounds on our gratitude than on our desires and our hopes. (1665, No. 241.) ¶750
• XLIV.--Imitation is always unhappy, for all which is counterfeit displeases by the very things which charm us when they are original (Naturelles). (1665, No. 245.) ¶751
• XLV.--We do not regret the loss of our friends according to their merits, but according to OUR wants, and the opinion with which we believed we had impressed them of our worth. (1665, No. 248.) ¶752
• XLVI.--It is very hard to separate the general goodness spread all over the world from great cleverness. (1665, No. 252.) ¶753
• XLVII.--For us to be always good, others should believe that they cannot behave wickedly to us with impunity. (1665, No. 254.) ¶754
• XLVIII.--A confidence in being able to please is often an infallible means of being displeasing. (1665, No. 256.) ¶755
• XLIX.--The confidence we have in ourselves arises in a great measure from that that we have in others. (1665, No. 258.) ¶756
• L.--There is a general revolution which changes the tastes of the mind as well as the fortunes of the world. (1665, No. 250.) ¶757
• LI.--Truth is foundation and the reason of the perfection of beauty, for of whatever stature a thing may be, it cannot be beautiful and perfect unless it be truly that she should be, and possess truly all that she should have (1665, No. 260.) ¶758
• LII.--There are fine things which are more brilliant when unfinished than when finished too much. (1665, No. 262.) ¶760
• LIII.--Magnanimity is a noble effort of pride which makes a man master of himself, to make him master of all things. (1665, No. 271.) ¶761
• LIV.--Luxury and too refined a policy in states are a sure presage of their fall, because all parties looking after their own interest turn away from the public good. (1665, No. 282.) ¶762
• LVI.--We are very fond of reading others' characters, but we do not like to be read ourselves. (1665, No. 296.) ¶764
• LVII.--What a tiresome malady is that which forces one to preserve your health by a severe regimen. (Ibid, No. 298.) ¶765
• LVIII.--It is much easier to take love when one is free, than to get rid of it after having taken it. (1665, No. 300.) ¶766
• LIX.--Women for the most part surrender themselves more from weakness than from passion. Whence it is that bold and pushing men succeed better than others, although they are not so loveable. (1665, No. 301.) ¶767
• LX.--Not to love is in love, an infallible means of being beloved. (1665, No. 302.) ¶768
• LXI.--The sincerity which lovers and mistresses ask that both should know when they cease to love each other, arises much less from a wish to be warned of the cessation of love, than from a desire to be assured that they are beloved although no one denies it. (1665, No. 303.) ¶769
• LXII.--The most just comparison of love is that of a fever, and we have no power over either, as to its violence or its duration. (1665, No. 305.) ¶770
• LXIII.--The greatest skill of the least skilful is to know how to submit to the direction of another. (1665, No. 309.) ¶771
• LXIV.--We always fear to see those whom we love when we have been flirting with others. (16{74}, No. 372.) ¶772
• LXV.--We ought to console ourselves for our faults when we have strength enough to own them. (16{74}, No. 375.) ¶773
• {The date of the previous two maxims is incorrectly cited as 1665 in the text. I found this date immediately suspect because the translators' introduction states that the 1665 edition only had 316 maxims. In fact, the two maxims only appeared in the fourth of the first five editions (1674).} ¶774
• REFLECTIONS, EXTRACTED FROM MS. LETTERS IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY.* ¶776
• *A La Bibliotheque Du Roi, it is difficult at present (June 1871) to assign a name to the magnificent collection of books in Paris, the property of the nation. ¶777
• LXVII.--Why we cry out so much against maxims which lay bare the heart of man, is because we fear that our own heart shall be laid bare. (Maxim 103, MS., fol. 310.*) ¶779
• *The reader will recognise in these extracts portions of the Maxims previously given, sometimes the author has carefully polished them; at other times the words are identical. Our numbers will indicate where they are to be found in the foregoing collection. ¶780
• LXVIII.--Hope and fear are inseparable. (To Madame De Sable, Ms., Fol. 222, MAX. 168.) ¶781
• LXX.--The taste changes, but the will remains the same. (To Madame De Sable, Fol. 223, Max. 252.) ¶783

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