Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.
François de La Rochefoucauld
If vanity does not overthrow all virtues, at least she makes them totter.
François de La Rochefoucauld
We often pass from love to ambition, but we hardly ever return from ambition to love.
Variant translation: One often passes from love to ambition but one rarely returns from ambition to love.
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
Loyalty is in most people only a ruse used by self-interest to attract confidence.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Hope and fear are inseparable. There is no hope without fear, nor any fear without hope.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The steadfastness of the wise is but the art of keeping their agitation locked in their hearts.
François de La Rochefoucauld
If we judge of love by its usual effects, it resembles hatred more than friendship.
François de La Rochefoucauld
If we are to judge of love by the consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.
François de La Rochefoucauld
It is as easy to deceive ourselves without noticing as it is hard to deceive others without their noticing.
François de La Rochefoucauld
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