"We sometimes condemn the present, by praising the past; and show our contempt of what is now, by our esteem for what is no more."
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Francois de La Rochefoucauld quotes (page 18 of 55)
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"Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away."
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"Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady."
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"It is most difficult to speak when we are ashamed of being silent."
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"How can we be answerable for what we shall want in the future, since we have no clear idea of what we want now?"
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"Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well."
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"Fortune never seems so blind to any as to those on whom she bestows no favors."
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"We love much better those who endeavor to imitate us, than those who strive to equal us. For imitation is a sign of esteem, but competition of envy."
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"Madmen and fools see everything through the medium of humor."
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"Smallness of mind is the cause of stubbornness, and we do not credit readily what is beyond our view."
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"Our minds are as much given to laziness as our bodies."
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"In all aspects of life, we take on a part and an appearance to seem to be what we wish to be--and thus the world is merely composed of actors."
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"There are certain defects which, well-mounted, glitter like virtue itself."
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"Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongsto us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others."
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"It is easier to understand mankind in general than any individual man."
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"To praise great actions is in some sense to share them."
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"Great and glorious events which dazzle the beholder are represented by politicians as the outcome of grand designs whereas they are usually products of temperaments and passions."
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"We always get bored with those whom we bore."
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"Our envy always outlives the felicity of its object."
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"Esteem never makes ingrates."
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