Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"Moderation is caused by the fear of exciting the envy and contempt which those merit who are intoxicated with their good fortune; it is a vain display of our strength of mind, and in short the moderation of men at their greatest height is only a desire to appear greater than their fortune."

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Source: Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims. Book by François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxim No. 60, 1665.

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Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

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Francois de La Rochefoucauld was a 17th-century French writer known for his insightful maxims on human nature and morality.

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"The passions are the only orators that always persuade: they are, as it were, a natural art, the rules of which are infallible; and the simplest man with passion is more persuasive than the most eloquent without it."

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