Quotes about François de La Rochefoucauld

8 Sourced Quotes

Poor people know poor people, and rich people know rich people. It is one of the few things La Rochefoucauld did not say, but then La Rochefoucauld never lived in the Bronx.

When a nice quote comes to mind, I always attribute it to Montesquieu, or to La Rochefoucauld. They've never complained.

Indro Montanelli

"Old age is a tyrant," said La Rochefoucauld, "who forbids indulgence in the pleasures of youth under penalty of death." First of all, those of love are prohibited. Old men and old women have the utmost difficulty in inspiring love, though they be full of spirit and vigor. When affairs of this sort do exist, it must be determined how great a part is played by respect, admiration, and abnegation.

Turning Wearily, as one would turn to nod goodbye to Rochefoucauld, If the street were time and he as the end of the street.

La Rochefoucauld is an impressive character. While being deeply cynical in trying to get to the core of human nature, especially that part of human nature that most people would want to hide, he is also amused by the spectacle.

Dilettantes have not achieved anything lasting even in the applied arts. But they have rendered some service to the highest of all disciplines: philosophy. Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, Vauvenargues are proof of this.

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

When you talk yourself, you think how witty, how original, how acute you are; but when another does so, you are very apt to think only — What a crib from Rochefoucauld!

Yes, well, let me tell you that if nobody had ever learned to quote, very few people would be in love with La Rochefoucauld. I bet you I don't know ten souls who read him without a middleman.