Francois de La Rochefoucauld

French moralist of the era of French Classical literature and author of Maximes and Memoirs

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French moralist of the era of French Classical literature and author of Maximes and Memoirs

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring.
One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.
One forgives to the degree that one loves.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
It is almost always a fault of one who loves not to realize when he ceases to be loved.
However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.
True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.
Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.
A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring.
One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.
One forgives to the degree that one loves.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.
It is almost always a fault of one who loves not to realize when he ceases to be loved.
However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.
True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.