"There is great skill in knowing how to conceal one's skill."
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Quote collection
Francois de La Rochefoucauld quotes (page 32 of 55)
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"People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice."
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"He is a truly virtuous man who wishes always to be open to the observation of honest men."
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"It is easier for a man to be thought fit for an employment that he has not, than for one he stands already possessed of, and is exercising."
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"In love the deceit generally outstrips the distrust."
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"Women find it far more difficult to overcome their inclination to coquetry than to overcome their love."
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"We often are consoled by our want of reason for misfortunes that reason could not have comforted."
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"What men call friendship is no more than a partnership, a mutual care of interests, an exchange of favors - in a word, it is a sort of traffic, in which self-love ever proposes to be the gainer."
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"It is more difficult for a man to be faithful to his mistress when he is favored than when he is ill treated by her."
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"We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it consists in a symmetry of which we know not the rules, and a secret conformity of the features to each other, as also to the air and complexion of the person."
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"What makes false reckoning, as regards gratitude, is that the pride of the giver and the receiver cannot agree as to the value of the benefit."
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"Boredom ... causes us to neglect more duties than does interest."
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"A fool has not stuff enough to make a good man."
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"Men sometimes think they hate flattery, but they hate only the manner of flattering."
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"That conduct often seems ridiculous the secret reasons of which are wise and solid."
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"A well-trained mind has less difficulty in submitting to than in guiding an ill-trained mind."
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"Passions often produce their contraries: avarice sometimes leads to prodigality, and prodigality to avarice; we are often obstinate through weakness and daring through timidity."
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"The rust of business is sometimes polished off in a camp; but never in a court."
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"Few men know all the ill they do."
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"Fortune mends more faults in us than ever reason would be able to do."
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