Francois De La Rochefoucauld Quotes
A great many men's gratitude is nothing but a secret desire to hook in more valuable kindnesses hereafter. A man is sometimes as different from himself as he is from others. A man's worth has its season, like fruit. A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice. A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire. A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win. A work can become modern only if it is first postmodern. Postmodernism thus understood is not modernism at its end but in the nascent state, and this state is constant. Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones. As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing. As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing. As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish. Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it. Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit. Conceit causes more conversation than wit. Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit. Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed. Every one speaks well of his own heart, but no one dares speak well of his own mind. Everyone complains of his memory, and nobody complains of his judgment. Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.
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