François de La Rochefoucauld - Man Quotes

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Passion often makes a fool of the wisest man, and often makes the greatest fools wise.

François de La Rochefoucauld
A man who is ungrateful is sometimes less to blame for it than his benefactor.

François de La Rochefoucauld
Hardly any man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.

François de La Rochefoucauld
Folly pursues us throughout our lives, and the man whom we call wise is he whose follies are proportionate to his age and to his fortune.

François de La Rochefoucauld
There is scarcely a single man sufficiently aware to know all the evil he does.

François de La Rochefoucauld
Confidence always pleases those who receive it. It is a tribute we pay to their merit, a deposit we commit to their trust, a pledge which gives them a claim upon us, a kind of dependence to which we voluntarily submit. I do not wish from what I have said to depreciate confidence, so necessary to man.

François de La Rochefoucauld
Passion often renders the most clever man a fool, and even sometimes renders the most foolish man clever.

François de La Rochefoucauld
The passions are the only advocates which always persuade. They are a natural art, the rules of which are infallible; and the simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without.

François de La Rochefoucauld
It is not a pain to give to ingrates, but it is an intolerable one to be obliged to a dishonest man.

François de La Rochefoucauld
It is easier to know man in general than to know one man.

François de La Rochefoucauld
The greatest art of an able man is to know how to conceal his ability.

François de La Rochefoucauld
A man may be ungrateful but is less chargeable with ingratitude than his benefactor.

François de La Rochefoucauld
A man will often believe himself a leader when he is led; while with his mind he endeavors to reach one goal, his heart insensibly drags him toward another.

François de La Rochefoucauld
The rudest man, inspired by passion, is more persuasive than the most eloquent man, if uninspired.

François de La Rochefoucauld
It is easier to understand mankind in general than any individual man.

François de La Rochefoucauld
The accent of a man's native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.

François de La Rochefoucauld
A man does not please long when he has only one species of wit.

François de La Rochefoucauld
Sometimes one must be base in order not to be tricked by a clever man.

François de La Rochefoucauld