“When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.”
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Famous Luc de Clapiers Quotes
“It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish.”
“Our failings sometimes bind us to one another as closely as could virtue itself.”
“The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success.”
“He who knows how to suffer everything can dare everything.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“To execute great things, one should live as though one would never die.”
“Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“Prosperity makes few friends.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“The wicked are always surprised to find that the good can be clever.”
“Men despise great projects when they do not feel themselves capable of great successes.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“Few people are modest enough to be estimated at their true worth.”
“The common excuse for those bringing misfortune on others is that they desire their good.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy.”
“Despair exaggerates not only our misery but also our weakness.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, nor knowledge a proof of genius.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“The shortness of life cannot dissuade us from its pleasures, nor console us for its pains.”
“We are less hurt by the contempt of fools than by the lukewarm approval of men of intelligence.”
“Habit is everything, even in love.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“The maxims of men reveal their characters.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“The counsels of the old, like the winter sun, shine, but give no heat.”
Source: La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
“The counsels of old age give light without heat, like the sun in winter.”
“In a way, the main fault of all books is that they are too long.”
“All erroneous ideas would perish of their own accord if given clear expression.”
“We are dismayed when we find that even disaster cannot cure us of our faults.”
“Magnanimity will not consider the prudence of its motives.”
“It is a great sign of mediocrity to praise always moderately.”
“The usual pretext of those who make others unhappy is that they do it for their own good.”