One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

One forgives to the degree that one loves.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Perfect courage means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Perfect Valor is to do, without a witness, all that we could do before the whole world.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Philosophy finds it an easy matter to vanquish past and future evils, but the present is commonly too hard for it.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Reason alone is insufficient to make us enthusiastic in any matter.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld