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Quotes of the Day for 15 September 2011 – La Rochefoucauld
François, duc de La Rochefoucauld was born at Paris on this day in 1613. From a noble family, he was destined to make an impact and was trained in Latin, mathematics, fencing, dancing, heraldry, and etiquette. He was in command of a regiment at age fifteen. He took issue with certain powerful persons, specifically Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin, which meant he was banished on several occasions and made his home in the Bastille briefly. Later in life he joined a salon in which the goal was to carefully hone observations on human character in one sentence. He turned out to be both prolific and skilled in this, endearing him to quotation collectors ever since.
You will find an expanded profile, photo, additional biographical links, and all quotes from this author on the author's Notable Quotable page.
The quotes:
Few things are needful to make the wise man happy, but nothing satisfies the fool; - and this is the reason why so many of mankind are miserable.
Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.
It is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit.
Love, like fire, cannot subsist without constant impulse; it ceases to live from the moment it ceases to hope or to fear.
Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.
All from François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, 1613 - 1680
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