The Homage That Vice Pays to Virtue

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Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld 1613-1680

A cynical observer in the court of the French king, Louis XIV, and a forefather of the enlightenment.

Part Two

The mind is always the dupe of the heart.

Nothing is given so profusely as advice.

The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more clever than others.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

Usually we praise only to be praised.

Who lives without folly is not so wise as he thinks.

Most people judge men only by their success or their good fortune.

Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.

Too great haste in paying off an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.

There is great skill in knowing how to conceal one’s skill.

The pleasure of love is in loving. We are happier in the passion we feel than in that we arouse.

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Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld 1613-1680

A cynical observer in the court of the French king, Louis XIV, and a forefather of the enlightenment.

Part One

Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.

We all have strength to endure the misfortunes of others.

Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.

We need greater virtues to sustain good fortune than bad.

If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.

Silence is the best tactic for him who distrusts himself.

It is more ignominious to mistrust our friends than to be deceived by them.

Everyone complains of memory, and no one complains of his judgment.

To Deceive the Deceiver

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Jean de La Fontaine – 1621-1695

A French poet who wrote 243 fables.
During his life he was considered a vagabond, a dreamer and a lover of pleasure.
He believed in ethical hedonism.

We believe no evil till the evil’s done.

Better to suffer than to die: that is mankind’s motto.

By the work one knows the workman.

It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.

It is impossible to please all the world and one’s father. On the wings of Time grief flies away.

People who make no noise are dangerous.

A hungry stomach cannot hear.

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All Human Evil Comes From This - - -

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Blaise Pascal
1623-1662

French Mathematician and Philosopher
The inventor of the first digital calculator

I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short.

Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.

What is man in nature? Nothing in relation to the infinite, everything in relation to nothing, a mean between nothing and everything.

The state of man: inconstancy, boredom, anxiety –

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.

The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

Man is neither angel nor beast; and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast.

To ridicule philosophy is really to philosophize.

Men blaspheme what they do not know.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully when they do it from religious convictions.

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The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he’s given the freedom to starve anywhere. – S.J. Perelman

All writing is garbage. People who come out of nowhere to try to put into words any part of what goes on in their minds are pigs. – Antonin Artaud

The young always have the same problem – how to rebel and conform at the same time. The have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another. - Quentin Crisp

What is youth except a man or a woman before it is ready or fit to be seen. – Evelyn Waugh

The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists the circulation of the blood. – Logan Pearsall Smith

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