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

Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

François de La Rochefoucauld · Лицензия: Public domain · Источник

• CXI.--That which makes us so bitter against those who do us a shrewd turn, is because they think themselves more clever than we are. (See Maxim 350.) ¶829
• CXII.--We are always bored by those whom we bore. (See Maxim 352.) ¶830
• CXIII.--The harm that others do us is often less than that we do ourselves. (See Maxim 363.) ¶831
• CXIV.--It is never more difficult to speak well than when we are ashamed of being silent. ¶832
• CXV.--Those faults are always pardonable that we have the courage to avow. ¶833
• CXVI.--The greatest fault of penetration is not that it goes to the bottom of a matter--but beyond it. (See Maxim 377.) ¶834
• CXVII.--We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it. (See Maxim 378.) ¶835
• CXVIII.--When our merit declines, our taste declines also. (See Maxim 379.) ¶836
• CXIX.--Fortune discovers our vices and our virtues, as the light makes objects plain to the sight. (See Maxim 380.) ¶837
• CXX.--Our actions are like rhymed verse-ends (Bouts-Rimes) which everyone turns as he pleases. (See Maxim 382.) ¶838
• CXXI.--There is nothing more natural, nor more deceptive, than to believe that we are beloved. ¶839
• CXXII.--We would rather see those to whom we have done a benefit, than those who have done us one. ¶840
• CXXIII.--It is more difficult to hide the opinions we have than to feign those which we have not. ¶841
• CXXIV.--Renewed friendships require more care than those that have never been broken. ¶842
• CXXV.--A man to whom no one is pleasing is much more unhappy than one who pleases nobody. ¶843
• REFLECTIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, BY THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD ¶844
• Though sincerity and confidence have many points of resemblance, they have yet many points of difference. ¶846
• Sincerity is an openness of heart, which shows us what we are, a love of truth, a dislike to deception, a wish to compensate our faults and to lessen them by the merit of confessing them. ¶847
• Most frequently we make confidants from vanity, a love of talking, a wish to win the confidence of others, and make an exchange of secrets. ¶850
• Some may have a motive for confiding in us, towards whom we have no motive for confiding. With them we discharge the obligation in keeping their secrets and trusting them with small confidences. ¶851
• Others whose fidelity we know trust nothing to us, but we confide in them by choice and inclination. ¶852
• Everyone agrees that a secret should be kept intact, but everyone does not agree as to the nature and importance of secresy. Too often we consult ourselves as to what we should say, what we should leave unsaid. There are few permanent secrets, and the scruple against revealing them will not last for ever. ¶854
• II. On Difference of Character. ¶857
• A lofty mind always thinks nobly, it easily creates vivid, agreeable, and natural fancies, places them in their best light, clothes them with all appropriate adornments, studies others' tastes, and clears away from its own thoughts all that is useless and disagreeable. ¶859
• A clever, pliant, winning mind knows how to avoid and overcome difficulties. Bending easily to what it wants, it understands the inclination and temper it is dealing with, and by managing their interests it advances and establishes its own. ¶860
• A well regulated mind sees all things as they should be seen, appraises them at their proper value, turns them to its own advantage, and adheres firmly to its own opinions as it knows all their force and weight. ¶861
• It is possible to have a serious turn of mind, and yet to talk pleasantly and cheerfully. This class of mind is suited to all persons in all times of life. Young persons have usually a cheerful and satirical turn, untempered by seriousness, thus often making themselves disagreeable. ¶863
• No part is easier to play than that of being always pleasant; and the applause we sometimes receive in censuring others is not worth being exposed to the chance of offending them when they are out of temper. ¶864
• Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much, yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirised can join in the satire. ¶865
• It is unfortunate to have a satirical turn without affecting to be pleased or without loving to jest. It requires much adroitness to continue satirical without falling into one of these extremes. ¶866
• Raillery is a kind of mirth which takes possession of the imagination, and shows every object in an absurd light; wit combines more or less softness or harshness. ¶867
• There is a kind of refined and flattering raillery that only hits the faults that persons admit, which understands how to hide the praise it gives under the appearance of blame, and shows the good while feigning a wish to hide it. ¶868
• There is a difference between an ardent and a brilliant mind, a fiery spirit travels further and faster, while a brilliant mind is sparkling, attractive, accurate. ¶870
• Gentleness of mind is an easy and accommodating manner which always pleases when not insipid. ¶871
• A mind full of details devotes itself to the management and regulation of the smallest particulars it meets with. This distinction is usually limited to little matters, yet it is not absolutely incompatible with greatness, and when these two qualities are united in the same mind they raise it infinitely above others. ¶872
• The expression "Bel Esprit" is much perverted, for all that one can say of the different kinds of mind meet together in the "Bel Esprit." Yet as the epithet is bestowed on an infinite number of bad poets and tedious authors, it is more often used to ridicule than to praise. ¶873
• So we say that a man has only one kind of wit, that he has several, that he has every variety of wit. ¶875
• One can be a fool with much wit, and one need not be a fool even with very little wit. ¶876
• Though the gifts of the mind are infinite, they can, it seems to me, be thus classified. ¶878
• There are some so beautiful that everyone can see and feel their beauty. ¶879

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