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Luc de Clapiers

Luc de Clapiers Quotes

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Famous Luc de Clapiers Quotes

“It is in our own mind and not in exterior objects that we perceive most things; fools know scarcely anything because they are empty, and their heart is narrow; but great souls find in themselves a number of exterior things; they have no need to read or travel or to listen or to work to discover the highest truths; they have only to delve into themselves and search, if we may say so, their own thoughts.”

IfsKnowsNeedsMindHeartMaySoulNumbersObjectsFoolHighestEmptyPerceiveExteriorGreat Souls
Author:Luc de Clapiers
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“The maxim that men are not to be praised before their death was invented by envy and too lightly adopted by philosophers. I, on the contrary, maintain that they ought to be praised in their lifetime if they merit it; but jealousy and calumny, roused against their virtue or their talent, labour to degrade them if any one ventures to bear testimony to them. It is unjust criticism that they should fear to hazard, not sincere praise.”

IfsMenShouldVirtueTalentBearsOughtCriticismPraiseLifetimePhilosopherEnvyContraryMeritLabourSincereVentureUnjustTestimonyAdoptedMaximsHazardsDegradeCalumnyUnjust Criticism
Author:Luc de Clapiers
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“If children had teachers for judgment and eloquence just as they have for languages, if their memory was exercised less than their energy or their natural genius, if instead of deadening their vivacity of mind we tried to elevate the free scope and impulse of their souls, what might not result from a fine disposition? As it is, we forget that courage, or love of truth and glory are the virtues that matter most in youth; and our one endeavour is to subdue our children's spirits, in order to teach them that dependence and suppleness are the first laws of success in life.”

IfsMindFirstsChildrenSoulMatterMightLawSpiritOrderEnergyLanguageNaturalMemoriesForgetResultsTeachVirtueTeacherYouthFineGeniusJudgmentGloryOur ChildrenImpulseSuccess In LifeDependenceDispositionScopeEloquenceEndeavourVivacity
Author:Luc de Clapiers
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“The generality of men are so bound within the sphere of their circumstances that they have not even the courage to get out of them through their ideas, and if we see a few whom, in a way, speculation over great things makes incapable of mean ones, we find still more with whom the practice of small things takes away the feeling for great ones.”

IfsMenWayMeanStillsIdeasFeelingsPracticeCircumstancesBoundsGreat ThingsSpheresIncapableSpeculationSmall ThingsGreat OnesGeneralities
Author:Luc de Clapiers
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“As soon as an opinion becomes common it is sufficient reason for men to abandon it and to uphold the opposite opinion until that in its turn grows old, and they require to distinguish themselves by other things. Thus if they attain their goal in some art or science, we must expect them soon to cast it aside to acquire some fresh fame, and this is partly the reason why the most splendid ages degenerate so quickly, and, scarcely emerged from barbarism, plunge into it again.”

IfsMenArtReasonAgeTurnsGrowsGoalCommonOpinionFameOppositesCastsReason WhySufficientAcquireAbandonSplendidPlungeBarbarismDegenerates
Book:La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
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“If a man is endowed with a noble and courageous soul, if he is painstaking, proud, ambitious, without meanness, of a profound a deep-seated intelligence, I dare assert that he lacks nothing to be neglected by the great and men in high office, who fear, more than other men, those whom they cannot dominate.”

IfsMenSoulProudOfficeProfoundDareNobleCourageousAmbitiousNeglectedMeanness
Book:La Bruyère and Vauvenargues: Selections from the Characters, Reflexions and Maxims
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