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| Francois de La Rochefoucauld
A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice. Before desiring something passionately one should inquire into the happiness of the man who possesses it. Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency. Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example. If I advance, follow me! If I retreat, kill me! If I die, avenge me! If it were not for the company of fools, a witty man would often be greatly at a loss. In all professions each affects a look and an exterior to appear what he wishes the world to believe that he is. Thus we may say that the whole world is made up of appearances. In most of mankind gratitude is merely a secret hope of further favors. It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability. It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills. Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye. No person is either so happy or so unhappy as he imagines. Old age is a tyrant, who forbids, under pain of death, the pleasures of youth. Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example. Perfect Valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world. Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady. There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune; it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things; it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves. There is only one kind of love, but there are a thousand imitations. Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it. Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude. We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think We are never so happy, nor so unhappy, as we suppose ourselves to be. We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.We would rather speak badly of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all. What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one. When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time. Wisdom is to the mind what health is to the body. |
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