Luc de Clapiers Quotes

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When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

Luc de Clapiers
The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught.

Luc de Clapiers
It is of no use to possess a lively wit if it is not of the right proportion: the perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate.

Luc de Clapiers
We must not be timid from a fear of committing faults: the greatest fault of all is to deprive oneself of experience.

Luc de Clapiers
When we are convinced of some great truths, and feel our convictions keenly, we must not fear to express it, although others have said it before us. Every thought is new when an author expresses it in a manner peculiar to himself.

Luc de Clapiers
Reason and emotion counsel and supplement each other. Whoever heeds only the one, and puts aside the other, recklessly deprives himself of a portion of the aid granted us for the regulation of our conduct.

Luc de Clapiers
Children are … encouraged to be imitators, a course to which they are already too much inclined. No one thinks of making them original, courageous, independent.

Luc de Clapiers
The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of all pleasures.

Luc de Clapiers
In order to achieve great things, we must live as though we were never going to die.

Luc de Clapiers
It is a great sign of mediocrity to praise always moderately.

Luc de Clapiers
We are not greatly pleased that our friends should respect our good qualities if they venture to perceive our faults.

Luc de Clapiers
Men are not to be judged by what they do not know, but by what they know, and by the manner in which they know it.

Luc de Clapiers
No one says in the morning: A day is soon past, let us wait for the night. On the contrary, in the evening we consider what we shall do the next day. We should be very sorry to spend even one day at the mercy of time and bores. … Who can be certain of spending an hour without being bored, if he takes no care to fill even that short period according to his pleasure. Yet what we cannot be certain of for an hour, we sometimes feel assured of for life, and say: If death is the end of everything, why give ourselves so much trouble? We are extremely foolish to make such a pother about the future —that is to say, we are extremely foolish not to entrust our destinies to chance, and to provide for the interval which lies between us and death.

Luc de Clapiers
The world forgives with difficulty the fact that one can be happy without it.

Luc de Clapiers
Whatever affection we have for our friends or relations, the happiness of others never suffices for our own.

Luc de Clapiers
Some are born to invent, others to embellish; but the gilder attracts more attention than the architect.

Luc de Clapiers
The thought of death deceives us; for it causes us to neglect to live.

Luc de Clapiers
Men crowd into honorable careers without other vocation than their vanity, or at best their love of fame.

Luc de Clapiers
Are we surprised if a sick man cannot walk, or keep awake, or stand upright? Would it not be more surprising if he was the same man as when he was well? If we have a headache, or have slept badly, we are excused for telling incapable of work, and yet no one suspects us of always being lazy. Shall we deny a dying man the privilege we grant a man with a headache? And dare we assert that the man who lacks courage in his last agony never possessed virtue when he was well.

Luc de Clapiers
Great men undertake great things because they are great, and fools because they think them easy.

Luc de Clapiers
Some authors regard morality in the same light as we regard modern architecture. Convenience is the first thing to be looked for.

Luc de Clapiers
Men despise great projects when they do not feel themselves capable of great successes.

Luc de Clapiers
You can purchase the mind of Pascal for a crown. Pleasures even cheaper are sold to those who give themselves up to them. It is only luxuries and objects of caprice that are rare and difficult to obtain; unfortunately they are the only things that touch the curiosity and taste of ordinary men.

Luc de Clapiers
Virtue is so praiseworthy that wicked people practice it from self-interest.

Luc de Clapiers
It is proof of a narrow mind when things worthy of esteem are distinguished from things worthy of love. Great minds naturally love whatever is worthy of their esteem.

Luc de Clapiers