Francois VI de La Rochefoucauld. (La Rochefoucauld is correct, but a continuous spelling has been established in the Russian tradition.); (French François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, September 15, 1613, Paris - March 17, 1680, Paris), Duke de La Rochefoucauld - a famous French moralist who belonged to the southern French family of La Rochefoucauld and in his youth (until 1650) bore the title Prince de Marcillac. Great-grandson of that François de La Rochefoucauld, who was killed on the night of St. Bartholomew.
La Rochefoucauld - ancient aristocratic surname. This family dates back to the 11th century, from Foucault I Lord de Laroche, whose descendants still live in the family castle of La Rochefoucauld near Angoulême.
Francois was brought up at court and from his youth was involved in various court intrigues. Having adopted hatred of Cardinal Richelieu from his father, he often quarreled with the Duke and only after the latter’s death began to play a prominent role at court. During his life, La Rochefoucauld was the author of many intrigues. In 1962, they were attracted by “sentiments” (sharp and witty statements) - La Rochefoucauld began work on his collection “Maxim”. “Maxims” (Maximes) is a collection of aphorisms that make up an integral code of everyday philosophy.
La Rochefoucauld's friends contributed to the release of the first edition of Maxim by sending one of the author's manuscripts to Holland in 1664, thereby infuriating François.
The Maxims made an indelible impression on their contemporaries: some found them cynical, others excellent.
In 1679, the French Academy invited La Rochefoucauld to become its member, but he refused, probably considering that a nobleman was unworthy to be a writer.
Despite brilliant career most considered La Rochefoucauld an eccentric and a failure.
1613-1680 French writer.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The gratitude of most people is nothing more than a hidden expectation of even greater benefits.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Only those who deserve it are afraid of contempt.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
There is a kind of love that, in its highest manifestation, leaves no room for jealousy.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
There is more selfishness in jealousy than love.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
In serious matters, one should be concerned not so much about creating favorable opportunities as about not missing them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Everyone complains about their lack of memory, but no one has yet complained about their lack of common sense.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Anything that stops working out stops attracting.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The only thing that usually prevents us from completely indulging in one vice is that we have several of them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
If we decide never to deceive others, they will deceive us every now and then.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
There are quite a few people who despise wealth, but only a few of them will be able to part with it.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The desire to talk about ourselves and show our shortcomings only from the side from which it is most beneficial for us is main reason our sincerity.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those who are envied.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Grace for the body is the same as common sense for the mind.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
No matter how rare true love, true friendship is even rarer.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it stops hoping or fighting.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The people we love almost always have more power over our soul than we ourselves.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We despise not those who have vices, but those who have no virtues.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
We got so used to wearing masks in front of others that we ended up wearing masks even in front of ourselves.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Nature endows us with virtues, and fate helps us manifest them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Mockery is often a sign of poverty of mind: it comes to the rescue when good arguments are lacking.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
True friendship knows no envy, but real love- coquetry.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Flaws are sometimes more forgivable than the means used to hide them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Mental deficiencies, like appearance flaws, worsen with age.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The inaccessibility of women is one of their outfits and accessories to enhance their beauty.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
A man's merits should be judged not by his great merits, but by how he applies them.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Usually happiness comes to the happy, and unhappiness to the unhappy.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Usually happiness comes to the happy, and unhappiness to the unhappy.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
As long as people love, they forgive.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
The habit of constantly being cunning is a sign of limited intelligence, and it almost always happens that he who resorts to cunning to cover himself in one place is revealed in another.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Separation weakens a slight infatuation, but intensifies a greater passion, just as the wind extinguishes a candle, but fans the fire.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Fate is considered blind mainly by those to whom it does not bestow good luck.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Stubbornness is born of the limitations of our mind: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
A person is never as unhappy as he thinks or as happy as he wants.
Francois La Rochefoucauld
A person is never as happy as he wants, and as unhappy as he thinks.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
To justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve our goal; in fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
To comprehend the world around us, we need to know it in every detail, and since these details are almost countless, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
A clear mind gives the soul what health gives the body.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Take care of your health too strict regime- a very boring disease.
What most enlivens a conversation is not intelligence, but trust.
Most women give up not because their passion is great, but because their weakness is great. Therefore, enterprising men usually have success.
Most people in conversations respond not to other people's judgments, but to their own thoughts.
Most people who consider themselves kind are only condescending or weak.
There are situations in life from which only stupidity can help you get out.
In great things, it is not so much about creating circumstances as using those that are available.
Great thoughts come from great feeling.
Majesty is an incomprehensible quality of the body, invented in order to hide the shortcomings of the mind.
There are more flaws in a person's character than there are in his mind.
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
In friendship and love, we are often happier with what we do not know than with what we know.
Where there is hope, there is also fear: fear is always full of hope, hope is always full of fear.
Pride does not want to be in debt, and pride does not want to pay.
They give advice, but do not have the prudence to use it.
If we were not overcome by pride, we would not complain about pride in others.
If you want to have enemies, try to outdo your friends.
If you want to please others, you need to talk about what they love and what touches them, avoid arguing about things they don’t care about, rarely ask questions and never give reason to think that you are smarter.
There are people who are attracted by vices, and others who are disgraced even by virtues.
There are laudable reproaches, just as there are accusatory praises.
Envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those who are envied.
Grace is to the body what common sense is to the mind.
Some people fall in love only because they have heard about love.
Other shortcomings, if used skillfully, shine brighter than any advantages.
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
No matter how uncertain and diverse the world is, it, however, always has a certain secret connection and clear order, which are created by providence, forcing everyone to take their place and follow their purpose.
As soon as a fool praises us, he no longer seems so stupid to us.
How often do people use their minds to do stupid things.
When vices leave us, we try to convince ourselves that it was we who left them.
Whoever is cured of love first is always cured more completely.
He who has never committed folly is not as wise as he thinks.
He who is too zealous in small things usually becomes incapable of great things.
Flattery is a counterfeit coin, kept in circulation by our vanity.
Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice is forced to pay to virtue.
A lie sometimes pretends to be the truth so cleverly that not to succumb to deception would mean betraying common sense.
Laziness quietly undermines our aspirations and dignity.
It is easier to know people in general than one person in particular.
It is easier to neglect profit than to give up a whim.
People usually slander not out of bad intentions, but out of vanity.
Human quarrels would not last so long if all the blame were on one side.
The only reason lovers don't get bored with each other is because they talk about themselves all the time.
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope and fear.
People of small minds are sensitive to petty insults; people of great intelligence notice everything and are not offended by anything.
Close-minded people usually condemn what goes beyond their horizons.
Human passions are just different inclinations of human selfishness.
You can give another reasonable advice, but you cannot teach him reasonable behavior.
We rarely fully understand what we really want.
We are so intolerant of other people's vanity because it hurts our own.
We readily admit to small shortcomings, wanting to say that we do not have more important ones.
We try to be proud of those shortcomings from which we do not want to improve.
We consider as sane only those people who agree with us on everything.
We are funny not so much by the qualities that we possess, but by those that we try to show without having them.
We admit our shortcomings only under the pressure of vanity.
We most often misjudge maxims that prove the falsity of human virtues because our own virtues always seem true to us.
What gives us joy is not what surrounds us, but our attitude towards our surroundings.
It is more pleasant for us to see not those people who do good to us, but those to whom we do good.
Not trusting friends is more shameful than being deceived by them.
You cannot achieve a high position in society without having at least some merits.
A man who has never been in danger cannot be held accountable for his bravery.
Our wisdom is as subject to chance as our wealth.
Not a single flatterer flatters as skillfully as self-love.
Hatred and flattery are pitfalls against which the truth is broken.
The equanimity of the sages is just the ability to hide their feelings in the depths of their hearts.
There are no more intolerable fools than those who are not entirely devoid of intelligence.
There is nothing stupider than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.
Nothing interferes with naturalness more than the desire to appear natural.
Having several vices prevents us from giving in entirely to one of them.
It is equally difficult to please both someone who loves very much and someone who does not love at all.
A person's merits should not be judged by his good qualities, but because how he uses them.
It is easiest to deceive a person when he wants to deceive us.
Self-interest blinds some, opens the eyes of others.
We judge the merits of people by their attitude towards us.
Sometimes a person is as little like himself as he is like others.
Having lost hope of discovering intelligence in those around us, we ourselves no longer try to preserve it.
Betrayals are most often committed not out of deliberate intention, but out of weakness of character.
The habit of constantly being cunning is a sign of limited intelligence, and it almost always happens that someone who resorts to cunning to cover himself in one place is revealed in another.
A sign of a person's true dignity is that even envious people are forced to praise him.
Decency is the least important of all the laws of society and the most revered.
The joys and misfortunes we experience do not depend on the size of the incident, but on our sensitivity.
The greatest harm the enemy can do to us is to accustom our hearts to hatred.
The bravest and most reasonable people- these are those who, under any pretext, avoid thoughts of death.
With our mistrust we justify the deception of others.
Hiding our true feelings is more difficult than pretending to be non-existent.
Compassion weakens the soul.
Our enemies' judgments about us are closer to the truth than our own.
The happy or unhappy state of people depends on physiology no less than on fate.
Happiness seems so blind to no one as to those to whom it has never smiled.
Those who have experienced great passions then spend their whole lives rejoicing in their healing and grieving over it.
Only by knowing our fate in advance could we vouch for our behavior.
Only great people have great vices.
Anyone who thinks that he can do without others is greatly mistaken; but he who thinks that others cannot do without him is even more mistaken.
The moderation of people who have reached the pinnacle of success is the desire to appear above their fate.
A smart person can be in love like crazy, but not like a fool.
We have more strength than will, and we often, just to justify ourselves in our own eyes, find many things impossible for us.
A person who doesn't like anyone is much more unhappy than someone who doesn't like anyone.
To become a great man, you need to be able to skillfully use everything that fate offers.
A clear mind gives the soul what health gives the body.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Gratitude is simply a secret hope for further approval.
As long as we strive to help people, we will rarely encounter ingratitude.
It is a small misfortune to serve an ungrateful person, but a great misfortune is to accept a service from a scoundrel.
God
As punishment for original sin God allowed man to create an idol out of selfishness, so that it would torment him on all paths of life.
Wealth
There are quite a lot of people who despise wealth but give little of it away.
Disease
What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regime.
Talkativeness
Why do we remember in every detail what happened to us, but are unable to remember how many times we told the same person about it?
Petty minds have the gift of saying a lot and saying nothing.
Pain
Bodily pain is the only evil that reason can neither weaken nor heal.
Marriage
Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy.
Generosity
Magnanimity is the spirit of pride and the surest means of receiving praise.
Generosity is quite accurately defined by its name; Moreover, it can be said that it is the common sense of pride and the most worthy path to good fame.
Loyalty
Having ceased to love, we rejoice when they cheat on us, thereby freeing us from the need to remain faithful.
Possibilities
In serious matters, one should be concerned not so much with creating favorable opportunities as with not missing them.
Enemy
Our enemies are much closer to the truth in their judgments about us than we are ourselves.
Arrogance
Arrogance is, in essence, the same pride that loudly declares its presence.
Stupidity
There is nothing stupider than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.
There are no more intolerable fools than those who are not entirely devoid of intelligence.
Pride
Pride is common to all people; the only difference is how and when they manifest it.
Pride always recovers its losses and loses nothing even when it gives up vanity.
Pride does not want to be a debtor, and pride does not want to pay.
Pride, having played human comedy all the roles in a row and, as if tired of his tricks and transformations, suddenly appears with open face, arrogantly tearing off his mask.
If we were not overcome by pride, we would not complain about the pride of others.
It is not kindness, but pride that usually prompts us to admonish people who have committed wrongdoings.
The most dangerous consequence of pride is blindness: it supports and strengthens it, preventing us from finding means that would ease our sorrows and help us recover from vices.
Pride has a thousand faces, but the most subtle and the most deceptive of them is humility.
State
Luxury and excessive sophistication predict certain death for the state, because they indicate that all private individuals care only about their own good, without caring at all about the public good.
Valor
The highest virtue is to do in solitude what people usually dare to do only in the presence of many witnesses.
The highest valor and insurmountable cowardice are extremes that are very rare. Between them, in a vast space, are located all sorts of shades of courage, as varied as human faces and characters. the fear of death to some extent limits valor.
The highest virtue is to do in solitude what men dare to do only in the presence of many witnesses.
For a simple soldier, valor is a dangerous craft, which he undertakes in order to earn food for himself.
Good
Everyone praises their kindness, but no one dares to praise their intelligence.
Where the end of good is, there is the beginning of evil, and where the end of evil is, there is the beginning of good.
Only the person who has the strength of character to sometimes be evil is worthy of praise for kindness; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will.
Duty
Everyone looks at his debt as an annoying overlord from whom he would like to get rid of.
Dignity
The evil we do brings upon us less hatred and persecution than our virtues.
The surest sign of innate high virtues is the absence of innate envy.
Friend
It is more shameful not to trust friends than to be deceived by them.
Not noticing the cooling of friends means valuing their friendship little.
Appreciate not what good your friend does, but appreciate his willingness to do good to you.
Friendship
The heat of friendship warms the heart without burning it.
We are so fickle in friendship because it is difficult to know the properties of a person’s soul and easy to know the properties of the mind.
Soul
Love for the soul of the lover means the same as the soul means for the body that it spiritualizes.
A pity
Pity is nothing more than a shrewd anticipation of disasters that could befall us.
Wish
A far-sighted person must determine a place for each of his desires and then implement them in order. Our greed often disrupts this order and forces us to pursue so many goals at the same time that in the pursuit of trifles we miss the essential.
We are afraid of everything, as mortals should be, and we want everything, as if we had been awarded immortality.
Before you strongly desire something, you should inquire whether the current owner of what you want is very happy.
Women
Women can overcome their passion rather than their coquetry.
There are many women in the world who have never had a single love affair, but there are very few who had only one.
A woman in love is more likely to forgive a large indiscretion than a small infidelity.
Life
There are situations in life from which you can only get out of it with a fair amount of recklessness.
Moderation in life is similar to abstinence in food: I would eat more, but I’m afraid of getting sick.
Envy
They envy only those with whom they do not hope to be equal.
Our envy always lives longer than the happiness we envy.
Envy is even more incomparable than hatred.
Health
What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regime!
Gold
The misconception of the stingy is that they consider gold and silver to be goods, when they are only means for acquiring goods.
Sincerity
The desire to talk about ourselves and show our shortcomings only from the side from which it is most beneficial for us is the main reason for our sincerity.
True
The truth is not as beneficial as its appearance is harmful.
Flattery
No flatterer flatters as skillfully as self-love.
Hypocrisy
Pride never acts as a hypocrite so skillfully as when hiding under the guise of humility.
Dexterity
The highest skill is to know the true price of everything.
Lie
Behind the aversion to lying is often hidden a hidden desire to give weight to our statements and to inspire reverent confidence in our words.
Love
As long as we love, we know how to forgive.
True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
No matter how pleasant love is, its external manifestations still give us more joy than love itself.
There is only one love, but there are thousands of counterfeits.
Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope and fear.
Love covers with its name the most diverse human relationships, supposedly connected with it, although in fact it participates in them no more than rain in the events taking place in Venice.
Many would never fall in love if they had not heard about love.
It is equally difficult to please both someone who loves very much and someone who no longer loves at all.
The one who is cured of love first is always cured more completely.
People
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
There are people with merits, but disgusting, while others, although with shortcomings, are sympathetic.
There are people who are destined to be fools: they do stupid things not only because at will, but also by the will of fate.
Truly cunning people pretend all their lives that they abhor cunning, but in fact they simply reserve it for exceptional cases that promise exceptional benefits.
Only people with a strong character can be truly soft: for others, apparent softness is in reality just weakness, which easily turns into grumpiness.
No matter how much people boast of the greatness of their deeds, the latter are often the result not of great plans, but simply by chance.
When people love, they forgive.
People who believe in their own merits consider it their duty to be unhappy in order to convince others and themselves that fate has not yet given them what they deserve.
People sometimes call friendship spending time together, mutual assistance in business, and exchange of services. In a word - a relationship where selfishness hopes to gain something.
People could not live in society if they did not lead each other by the nose.
People not only forget benefits and insults, but even tend to hate their benefactors and forgive offenders.
People often boast of the most criminal passions, but no one dares to admit to envy, a timid and bashful passion.
Human affection has the peculiarity of changing with changes in happiness.
Human quarrels would not last so long if all the blame were on one side.
A wise man is happy, content with little, but for a fool nothing is enough; that's why almost all people are unhappy.
Sometimes revolutions take place in society that change both its destinies and the tastes of people.
What people call virtue is usually only a ghost created by their desires and bearing such a high name so that they can follow their desires with impunity.
Moderation happy people stems from the tranquility bestowed by constant good fortune.
Although the destinies of people are very different, a certain balance in the distribution of goods and misfortunes seems to equalize them among themselves.
World
The world is ruled by fate and whim.
Youth
Young people change their tastes due to hot blood, but the old man retains his due to habit.
Young men often think that they are natural, when in fact they are simply ill-mannered and rude.
Silence
If great art is required to speak out at the right time, then no small art lies in remaining silent at the right time.
For those who do not trust themselves, the wisest thing to do is to remain silent.
Wisdom
Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.
It is much easier to show wisdom in the affairs of others than in your own.
Hope
The collapse of all a person's hopes is pleasant to both his friends and his enemies.
Flaws
IN Everyday life Our shortcomings sometimes seem more attractive than our advantages.
Impotence is the only flaw that cannot be corrected.
Majesty is an incomprehensible quality of the body, invented in order to hide the lack of intelligence.
Feigned importance is a special manner of behaving, invented for the benefit of those who have to hide their lack of intelligence.
If we didn’t have shortcomings, we wouldn’t be so pleased to notice them in our neighbors.
Misfortune
The secret pleasure of knowing that people see how unhappy we are often reconciles us with our misfortunes.
Deception
With our mistrust we justify the deception of others.
Condemnation
We love to judge people for the same things they judge us for.
Peace
Peace cannot be found anywhere for those who have not found it in themselves.
Submission
The highest sanity of the least sane people consists in the ability to obediently follow the reasonable instructions of others.
Vices
Having several vices prevents us from giving in entirely to one of them.
Actions
Our actions seem to be born under a lucky or unlucky star; to her they owe most of the praise or blame that falls to their lot.
Is it true
We should not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves.
Betrayal
Betrayals are most often committed not out of deliberate intention, but out of weakness of character.
Habits
It is easier to neglect profit than to give up a whim.
Our whims are much more bizarre than the whims of fate.
Nature
The wind blows out the candle, but fans the fire.
Nature, in caring for our happiness, not only intelligently arranged the organs of our body, but also gave us pride, apparently in order to save us from the sad consciousness of our imperfection.
Conversations
It is never more difficult to speak well than when it is shameful to remain silent.
Parting
Separation weakens a slight infatuation, but intensifies a greater passion, just as the wind extinguishes a candle, but fans the fire.
Intelligence
What praises are not given to prudence! However, it is not able to protect us even from the most insignificant vicissitudes of fate.
Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.
Jealousy
Jealousy is to some extent reasonable and just, for it wants to preserve our property or what we consider to be such, while envy is blindly indignant at the fact that our neighbors also have some property.
Jealousy feeds on doubt; it dies or goes berserk as soon as doubt turns into certainty.
Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it.
Modesty
Modesty is the worst form of vanity
Death
Few people are given the ability to comprehend what death is; in most cases, people go for it not out of deliberate intention, but out of stupidity and established custom, and people most often die because they cannot resist death.
Neither the sun nor death should be looked at point-blank.
Laughter
It's better to laugh without being happy than to die without laughing.
You can give advice, but you cannot give the mind to use it.
Compassion
Most often, compassion is the ability to see our own in the misfortunes of others; it is a premonition of disasters that can befall us. We help people so that they, in turn, help us; Thus, our services are reduced simply to the benefits that we do to ourselves in advance.
Justice
The fairness of a moderate judge only testifies to his love for his high position.
For most people, the love of justice is simply the fear of being subjected to injustice.
The love of justice is born of the liveliest anxiety, lest someone take away our property from us; It is this that motivates people to so carefully protect the interests of their neighbors, to respect them so much, and to so diligently avoid unjust actions. This fear forces them to be content with the benefits granted to them by birthright or the whim of fate, and without it, they would constantly raid other people's possessions.
Stubbornness is born of the limitations of our mind: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.
Philosophy
Philosophy triumphs over the sorrows of the past and future, but the sorrows of the present triumph over philosophy.
Character
We do not have enough strength of character to obediently follow all the dictates of reason.
Cunning
You can be more cunning than another, but you cannot be more cunning than everyone else.
Human
There is a continuous change of passions in the human heart, and the extinction of one of them almost always means the triumph of the other.
It is much easier to get to know a person in general than someone in particular.
No matter what advantages nature bestows on a person, she can create a hero out of him only by calling on fate to help.
Can a person say with confidence what he wants in the future if he is not able to understand what he wants now?
A man's merits should be judged not by his great merits, but by how he applies them.
Self-love is a person’s love for himself and for everything that constitutes his good.
A person is never as happy or as unhappy as he seems to himself.
A person who is incapable of committing a great crime finds it difficult to believe that others are fully capable of it.
Feelings
It is more difficult to hide our true feelings than to portray non-existent ones.
on other topics
Decency is the least important duty, and the most strictly observed of all others.
Only those who deserve it are afraid of contempt.
The thirst to deserve the praise lavished upon us strengthens our virtue; thus, praise of our intelligence, valor and beauty makes us smarter, more valiant and more beautiful.
Grace is to the body what common sense is to the mind.
We are usually driven to make new acquaintances not so much by tiredness from old ones or love of change, but by dissatisfaction that people we know well do not admire us enough, and the hope that people we don’t know much will admire us more.
He who is not capable of great things is scrupulous in detail.
Affectionateness often stems from a vain mind that seeks praise, rather than from a pure heart.
It is not enough to have outstanding qualities, you also need to be able to use them.
We scold ourselves only to be praised.
We are always afraid to show ourselves to the eyes of the one we love, after we happened to be dragged on the side.
Our pride suffers more when our tastes are criticized than when our views are condemned.
It is a mistake to believe that we can do without others, but it is even more mistaken to think that others could not do without us.
Truly dexterous is the one who knows how to hide his dexterity.
Praise is useful if only because it strengthens us in virtuous intentions.
Before we dedicate our hearts to achieving any goal, let us see how happy those who have already achieved that goal are.
The moderation of one whom fate favors is usually either the fear of being ridiculed for arrogance, or the fear of losing what has been acquired.
Moderation is the fear of envy or contempt, which becomes the lot of anyone who is blinded by his own happiness; this is vain boasting of the power of the mind.
To justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve our goals. In fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.
I want to eat and sleep.
An intelligent and cynical French duke - this is how La Rochefoucauld described him Somerset Maugham. Exquisite style, accuracy, laconicism and severity in assessments, which is not indisputable for most readers, made La Rochefoucauld's Maxims perhaps the most famous and popular among collections of aphorisms. Their author went down in history as a subtle observer, clearly disappointed in life - although his biography evokes associations with the heroes of the novels of Alexandre Dumas. This romantic and adventurous aspect of him is now almost forgotten. But most researchers agree that the foundations of the duke’s gloomy philosophy lie precisely in his complex fate, full of adventures, misunderstandings and disappointed hopes.
Family tree
La Rochefoucauld is an ancient aristocratic family. This family dates back to the 11th century, from Foucault I Lord de Laroche, whose descendants still live in the family castle of La Rochefoucauld near Angoulême. Since ancient times, the eldest sons of this family served as advisers to the French kings. Many who bore this surname went down in history. Francois I La Rochefoucauld was the godfather of the French king Francis I. Francois III was one of the leaders of the Huguenots. Francois XII became the founder of the French Savings Bank and a friend of the great American natural scientist Benjamin Franklin.
Our hero was the sixth in the La Rochefoucauld family. François VI duc de La Rochefoucauld, prince of Marcillac, marquis de Guercheville, comte de La Rocheguillon, baron de Verteuil, Montignac and Cahuzac was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. His father, François V Comte de La Rochefoucauld, chief wardrobe master of Queen Marie de' Medici, was married to the no less eminent Gabrielle du Plessis-Liancourt. Soon after Francois was born, his mother took him to the Verteuil estate in Angoumois, where he spent his childhood. The father remained to pursue a career at court and, as it turned out, not in vain. Soon the queen granted him the post of lieutenant general of the province of Poitou and 45 thousand livres of income. Having received this position, he began to diligently fight the Protestants. All the more diligently because his father and grandfather were not Catholics. Francois III, one of the leaders of the Huguenots, died on St. Bartholomew's Day, and Francois IV was killed by members of the Catholic League in 1591. François V converted to Catholicism, and in 1620 he was awarded the title of Duke for his successful fight against the Protestants. True, until the parliament approved the patent, he was the so-called “temporary duke” - duke by royal charter.
But even then, the ducal splendor already required large expenses. He spent so much money that his wife soon had to demand separate property.
The mother raised the children - Francois had four brothers and seven sisters - while the duke, during his short visits, initiated them into the secrets of court life. From a young age, he instilled in his eldest son a sense of noble honor, as well as feudal loyalty to the house of Condé. La Rochefoucauld's vassal connection with this branch of the royal house has been preserved from the times when both were Huguenots.
Marcillac's education, common for a nobleman of the time, included grammar, mathematics, Latin, dancing, fencing, heraldry, etiquette and many other disciplines. Young Marcillac approached his studies like most boys, but he was extremely partial to novels. The beginning of the 17th century was a time of enormous popularity of this literary genre- chivalric, adventurous, pastoral novels were published in abundance. Their heroes are valiant warriors, then impeccable admirers - then served as ideals for noble young people.
When Francois was fourteen years old, his father decided to marry him to Andre de Vivonne, the second daughter and heiress (her sister died early) of the former chief falconer Andre de Vivonne.
Disgraced Colonel
In the same year, François received the rank of colonel in the Auvergne regiment and in 1629 took part in the Italian Campaigns - military operations in northern Italy that France carried out as part of the Thirty Years' War. Returning to Paris in 1631, he found the court much changed. After the “Day of the Fooled” in November 1630, when the Queen Mother Marie de Medici, who demanded Richelieu’s resignation and was already celebrating her victory, was soon forced to flee, many of her adherents, including the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, shared her disgrace. The Duke was removed from the government of the province of Poitou and exiled to his home near Blois. Francois himself, who, as the eldest son of the duke, bore the title of Prince of Marcillac, was allowed to remain at court. Many contemporaries reproached him for arrogance, since the title of prince in France was reserved only for princes of the blood and foreign princes.
In Paris, Marcillac began visiting the fashionable salon of Madame Rambouillet. Influential politicians, writers and poets, and aristocrats gathered in her famous “Blue Drawing Room”. Richelieu looked there, Paul de Gondi, the future Cardinal de Retz, and the future Marshal of France Comte de Guiche, the Princess of Condé with her children - the Duke of Enghien, who would soon become the Grand Conde, the Duchess of Longueville, then still Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and the Prince of Conti , and many others. The salon was the center of gallant culture - here all the latest literature was discussed and conversations were held about the nature of love. To be a regular at this salon meant to belong to the most refined society. The spirit of Marcillac's favorite novels was in the air here, and people tried to imitate their heroes.
Having inherited from his father hatred of Cardinal Richelieu, Marcillac began to serve Anne of Austria. The beautiful but unhappy queen perfectly corresponded to the image from the novel. Marcillac became her faithful knight, as well as the friend of her maid of honor, Mademoiselle D'Hautfort, and the famous Duchess de Chevreuse.
In the spring of 1635, the prince, on his own initiative, went to Flanders to fight the Spaniards. And upon his return, he learned that he and several other officers were not allowed to remain at court. The reason given was their disapproval of the French military campaign of 1635. A year later, Spain attacked France and Marcillac returned to the army.
After the successful completion of the campaign, he expected that he would now be allowed to return to Paris, but his hopes were not destined to be justified: “... I was forced to go to my father, who lived on his estate and was still in strict disgrace.” But, despite the ban on appearing in the capital, before leaving for the estate, he secretly paid a farewell visit to the queen. Anne of Austria, whom the king forbade even to correspond with Madame de Chevreuse, gave him a letter for the disgraced duchess, which Marcillac took to Touraine, the place of her exile.
Finally, in 1637, father and son were allowed to return to Paris. Parliament approved the ducal patent, and they had to arrive to complete all the formalities and take the oath. Their return coincided with the height of the scandal in the royal family. In August of this year, a letter left by the queen to her brother, the king of Spain, with whom Louis XIII was still at war, was found in the Val-de-Grâce monastery. The Mother Superior, under threat of excommunication, told so much about the queen’s relationship with the hostile Spanish court that the king decided on an unheard-of measure - Anna of Austria was searched and interrogated. She was accused of high treason and secret correspondence with the Spanish ambassador, Marquis Mirabel. The king was even going to take advantage of this situation to divorce his childless wife (the future Louis XIV was born a year after these events in September 1638) and imprison her in Le Havre.
Things had gone so far that the thought of escaping arose. According to Marcillac, everything was ready for him to secretly take the queen and Mademoiselle D'Hautfort to Brussels. But the charges were dropped and such a scandalous escape did not take place. Then the prince volunteered to notify the Duchess de Chevreuse about everything that had happened. However, he was being followed , so his relatives categorically forbade him to see her. To get out of the situation, Marcillac asked the Englishman Count Craft, their mutual friend, to tell the duchess that she would send a faithful person to the prince, who could be notified about everything. and Marcillac went to his wife’s estate.
There was an agreement between Mademoiselle D'Hautefort and the Duchess de Chevreuse on an urgent warning system. La Rochefoucauld mentions two books of hours - in green and red bindings. One of them meant that things were going for the better, the other was a danger signal. It is not known who mixed up the symbolism, but, having received the book of hours, the Duchess de Chevreuse, considering that everything was lost, decided to flee to Spain and left the country in a hurry. Driving past Verteuil, the family estate of La Rochefoucauld, she asked the prince for help. But he, having listened to the voice of prudence for the second time, limited himself only to giving her fresh horses and people who accompanied her to the border. But when this became known in Paris, Marcillac was summoned for questioning and was soon taken to prison. Thanks to the petitions of his parents and friends, he stayed in the Bastille for only a week. And after his release, he was forced to return to Vertey. In exile, Marcillac spent many hours studying the works of historians and philosophers, expanding his education.
In 1639, the war began and the prince was allowed to go to the army. He distinguished himself in several battles, and at the end of the campaign, Richelieu even offered him the rank of major general, promising a brilliant future in his service. But at the request of the queen, he abandoned all the promised prospects and returned to his estate.
Court games
In 1642, preparations began for a conspiracy against Richelieu, organized by the favorite of Louis XIII, Saint-Mars. He negotiated with Spain to help overthrow the cardinal and make peace. Anna of Austria and the king's brother, Gaston of Orleans, were privy to the details of the conspiracy. Marcillac was not among its participants, but de Thou, one of Saint-Mars's close friends, turned to him for help on behalf of the queen. The prince resisted. The conspiracy failed, and its main participants - Saint-Mars and de Thou - were executed.
On December 4, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died, followed by Louis XIII. Having learned about this, Marcillac, like many other disgraced nobles, went to Paris. Mademoiselle D'Hautfort also returned to the court, the Duchess de Chevreuse arrived from Spain. Now they were all counting on the queen's special mercy. However, very soon they discovered a new favorite near Anna of Austria - Cardinal Mazarin, whose position, contrary to the expectations of many, turned out to be quite strong.
Stung to the core by this, the Duchess de Chevreuse, the Duke of Beaufort and other aristocrats, as well as some parliamentarians and prelates, united to overthrow Mazarin, forming a new, so-called “conspiracy of the Arrogant.”
La Rochefoucauld found himself in a rather difficult position: on the one hand, he had to remain faithful to the queen, on the other, he absolutely did not want to quarrel with the duchess. The conspiracy was quickly and easily discovered, but although the prince sometimes attended meetings of the “Arrogant”, he did not experience any particular disgrace. Because of this, for some time there were even rumors that he himself allegedly contributed to the discovery of the conspiracy. The Duchess de Chevreuse once again went into exile, and the Duke de Beaufort spent five years in prison (his escape from Vincennes Castle, which actually took place, was described very colorfully, although not entirely correctly, by Dumas the Father in the novel “Twenty Years Later” ).
Mazarin promised Marcillac the rank of brigadier general in case of successful service, and in 1646 he went into the army under the command of the Duke of Enghien, the future Prince of Condé, who had already won his famous victory at Rocroi. However, Marcillac was very soon seriously wounded by three musket shots and sent to Verteuil. Having lost the opportunity to distinguish himself in the war, after his recovery he concentrated his efforts on achieving the governorship of Poitou, which had been taken from his father. He assumed the office of governor in April 1647, paying a significant amount of money for it.
Experience of disappointments
For years, Marcillac waited in vain for royal favor and gratitude for his devotion. “We promise in proportion to our calculations, and we fulfill our promises in proportion to our fears,” he would later write in his “Maxims”... Gradually he became more and more close to the Condé house. This was facilitated not only by his father’s connections, but also by the prince’s relationship with the Duchess de Longueville, sister of the Duke of Enghien, which began back in 1646, during the military campaign. This blond, blue-eyed princess, one of the first beauties at court, was proud of her unblemished reputation, although she was the cause of many duels and several scandals at court. One of these scandals between her and her husband's mistress, Madame de Montbazon, Marcillac helped settle before the Fronde. He himself, wanting to achieve her favor, was forced to compete with one of his friends - Count Miossan, who, seeing the success of the prince, became one of his sworn enemies.
Relying on the support of Condé, Marcillac began to claim “Louvre privileges”: the right to enter the Louvre in a carriage and a “stool” for his wife - that is, the right to sit in the presence of the queen. Formally, he had no rights to these privileges, since they were granted only to dukes and princes of the blood, but in fact the monarch could grant such rights. For this reason, many again considered him arrogant and arrogant - after all, he wanted to become a duke during his father’s lifetime.
Having learned that he was bypassed during the “distribution of stools,” Marcillac dropped everything and went to the capital. At that time, the Fronde had already begun - a broad socio-political movement, led by aristocrats and the Parisian Parliament. Historians still find it difficult to give him precise definition.
Inclined at first to support the queen and Mazarin, Marcillac henceforth sided with the frondeurs. Soon after arriving in Paris, he gave a speech in parliament called “Apology for Prince Marcillac,” where he expressed his personal grievances and the reasons that prompted him to join the rebels. Throughout the war he supported the Duchess de Longueville and then her brother, the Prince of Condé. Having learned in 1652 that the duchess had taken a new lover, the Duke of Nemours, he broke up with her. Since then, their relationship has become more than cool, but the prince nevertheless remained a loyal supporter of the Great Condé.
With the outbreak of unrest, the Queen Mother and Mazarin left the capital and began the siege of Paris, which resulted in a peace signed in March 1649, which did not satisfy the frondeurs, because Mazarin remained in power.
New stage The confrontation began with the arrest of Prince Condé. But after his liberation, Condé broke with the other leaders of the Fronde and waged further struggle mainly in the provinces. By the declaration of October 8, 1651, he and his supporters, including the Duke of La Rochefoucauld (he began to bear this long-awaited title since the death of his father in 1651), were declared traitors to the state. In April 1652, the Prince of Condé with a significant army approached Paris. In the battle of the Parisian suburb of Saint-Antoine on July 2, 1652, La Rochefoucauld was seriously wounded in the face and temporarily lost his sight. The war was over for him. He then had to undergo long-term treatment; a cataract had to be removed from one eye. My vision recovered slightly only towards the end of the year.
After the Fronde
In September, the king promised an amnesty to all who lay down their arms. The Duke, blind and bedridden with attacks of gout, refused to do so. And soon he was again officially declared guilty of high treason with the deprivation of all titles and confiscation of property.
He was also ordered to leave Paris. He was allowed to return to his possessions only after the end of the Fronde, at the end of 1653.
Things fell into complete decline, the ancestral castle of Verteuil was destroyed by royal troops on the orders of Mazarin. The Duke settled in Angoumois, but sometimes visited Paris to visit his uncle, the Duke of Liancourt, who, judging by notarial deeds, gave him the Hotel Liancourt to stay in the capital. La Rochefoucauld now spent a lot of time with the children. He had four sons and three daughters. In April 1655, another son was born. His wife devotedly looked after La Rochefoucauld and supported him. It was at that time that he decided to write memoirs in order to tell the details of the events that he witnessed.
In 1656, La Rochefoucauld was allowed to finally return to Paris. And he went there to arrange the marriage of his eldest son. He was rarely at court - the king did not show him his favor, and therefore he spent most of his time in Vertey, the reason for this was also the Duke’s significantly weakened health.
Things improved a little in 1659, when he received a pension of 8 thousand livres as compensation for losses incurred during the Fronde. In the same year, the wedding of his eldest son, François VII, Prince of Marcilla, took place with his cousin, Jeanne-Charlotte, a wealthy heiress of the Liancourt house.
From that time on, La Rochefoucauld settled with his wife, daughters and younger sons in Saint-Germain, then still a suburb of Paris. He finally made peace with the court and even received the Order of the Holy Spirit from the king. But this order was not evidence of royal favor - Louis XIV patronized only his son, never fully forgiving the rebellious duke.
During that period, in many matters, and above all financial, La Rochefoucauld received a lot of help from his friend and former secretary Gourville, who later succeeded in the service of both the intendant Fouquet and the Prince of Condé. A few years later, Gourville married eldest daughter La Rochefoucauld - Marie-Catherine. This misalliance at first gave rise to a lot of gossip at court, and then so much unequal marriage began to pass by in silence. Many historians have accused La Rochefoucauld of “selling” his daughter for the financial support of a former servant. But according to the letters of the Duke himself, Gourville was in fact his close friend, and this marriage could well have been a consequence of their friendship.
The Birth of a Moralist
La Rochefoucauld was no longer interested in his career. In 1671, he transferred all the court privileges that the Duke so persistently sought in his youth to his eldest son, Prince Marcillac, who successful career at court. Much more often, La Rochefoucauld visited fashionable literary salons - Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Madame de Sable, Mademoiselle de Scudéry and Madame du Plessis-Guenego. He was a welcome guest in any salon and was known as one of the most educated people of his time. The king even thought about making him the Dauphin’s tutor, but he never decided to entrust the education of his son to the former frondeur.
In some salons serious conversations were held, and La Rochefoucauld, who knew Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Cicero well, and read Montaigne, Charron, Descartes, Pascal, took an active part in them. Mademoiselle Montpensier was engaged in compiling literary portraits. La Rochefoucauld “painted” his self-portrait, which modern researchers have recognized as one of the best.
“I am full of noble feelings, good intentions and an unshakable desire to be a truly decent person...” he wrote then, wanting to express his desire, which he carried throughout his life and which few understood and appreciated. La Rochefoucauld noted that he was always completely faithful to his friends and strictly kept his word. If you compare this essay with his memoirs, it becomes obvious that he saw this as the reason for all his failures at court...
In Madame de Sable's salon they became carried away by "sentiments". According to the rules of the game, the topic on which everyone would compose aphorisms was determined in advance. Then the maxims were read out in front of everyone, and the most apt and witty ones were chosen. The famous “Maxims” began with this game.
In 1661 - early 1662, La Rochefoucauld finished writing the main text of the Memoirs. At the same time, he began work on compiling the collection “Maxim”. He showed new aphorisms to his friends. In fact, he supplemented and edited La Rochefoucauld’s “Maxims” for the rest of his life. He also wrote 19 short essays on morality, which he collected together under the title "Reflections on different topics", although they were first published only in the 18th century.
In general, La Rochefoucauld had no luck with the publication of his works. One of the manuscripts of “Memoirs”, which he gave to friends to read, ended up with one publisher and was published in Rouen in a greatly altered form. This publication caused a huge scandal. La Rochefoucauld filed a complaint with the Parisian parliament, which, by decree of September 17, 1662, prohibited its sale. In the same year, the author’s version of “Memoirs” was published in Brussels.
The first edition of Maxim was published in 1664 in Holland - also without the knowledge of the author and again - from one of the handwritten copies that circulated among his friends. La Rochefoucauld was furious. He urgently published another version. In total, five Maxim publications approved by him were published during the Duke's lifetime. Already in the 17th century, the book was published outside of France. Voltaire spoke of it as “one of those works that most contributed to the formation of the nation’s taste and gave it a spirit of clarity...”
The Last War
Far from doubting the existence of virtues, the Duke became disillusioned with people who strive to classify almost any of their actions as virtues. Court life, and especially the Frond, gave him many examples of the most ingenious intrigues, where actions do not correspond to words and everyone ultimately strives only for their own benefit. “What we take for virtue often turns out to be a combination of selfish desires and actions, skillfully selected by fate or our own cunning; so, for example, sometimes women are chaste, and men are valiant, not at all because chastity and valor are actually characteristic of them.” These words open his collection of aphorisms.
Among his contemporaries, “Maxims” immediately caused a great resonance. Some found them excellent, others found them cynical. “He does not believe at all in generosity without secret interest, or in pity; he judges the world by himself,” wrote Princess de Guemene. The Duchess de Longueville, having read them, forbade her son, Count Saint-Paul, whose father was La Rochefoucauld, to visit Madame de Sable's salon, where such thoughts were preached. Madame de Lafayette began to invite the count to her salon, and gradually La Rochefoucauld also began to visit her more and more often. This began their friendship, which lasted until their death. Due to the Duke's venerable age and the Countess's reputation, their relationship generated almost no gossip. The Duke visited her at her house almost every day and helped her work on her novels. His ideas had a very significant influence on the work of Madame de Lafayette, and his literary taste and easy style helped her create a novel that is called a masterpiece literature XVII century, - “Princess of Cleves”.
Almost every day the guests gathered at Madame Lafayette’s or at La Rochefoucauld’s, if he could not come, they talked and discussed interesting books. Racine, Lafontaine, Corneille, Moliere, Boileau read their new works from them. Due to illness, La Rochefoucauld was often forced to stay at home. From the age of 40, he was tormented by gout, numerous wounds made themselves felt, and his eyes hurt. He completely moved away from political life However, despite all this, in 1667, at the age of 54, he volunteered to go to war with the Spaniards to participate in the siege of Lille. In 1670 his wife died. In 1672, a new misfortune befell him - in one of the battles, Prince Marcillac was wounded and Count Saint-Paul was killed. A few days later, a message arrived that La Rochefoucauld’s fourth son, Chevalier Marcillac, had died from his wounds. Madame de Sevigne wrote in her famous letters to her daughter that at this news the Duke tried to restrain his feelings, but tears flowed from his eyes.
In 1679, the French Academy noted the work of La Rochefoucauld, he was invited to become a member, but he refused. Some consider the reason for this to be shyness and timidity in front of an audience (he read out his works only to friends when no more than 5-6 people were present), others - a reluctance to glorify solemn speech Richelieu, founder of the Academy. Perhaps it is the pride of an aristocrat. A nobleman was obliged to be able to write gracefully, but to be a writer was beneath his dignity.
At the beginning of 1680, La Rochefoucauld's condition became worse. Doctors spoke of an acute attack of gout; modern researchers believe that it could have been pulmonary tuberculosis. From the beginning of March it became clear that he was dying. Madame de Lafayette spent every day with him, but when hope for recovery was completely lost, she had to leave him. According to the customs of that time, only relatives, a priest and servants could be at the bedside of a dying person. On the night of March 16-17, at the age of 66, he died in Paris in the arms of his eldest son.
Most of his contemporaries considered him an eccentric and a failure. He failed to become what he wanted - neither a brilliant courtier, nor a successful frondeur. Being a proud man, he preferred to consider himself misunderstood. The fact that the reason for his failures may lie not only in the self-interest and ingratitude of others, but partly in himself, he decided to tell only in the most last years life, which most were able to learn about only after his death: “The gifts that God has endowed people with are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and bears only its own fruits. That is why the best pear tree will never bear even crappy apples, and the most gifted person gives in to a task that, although mediocre, is given only to those who are capable of this task. And therefore, composing aphorisms without at least a little talent for this kind of activity is no less ridiculous than expecting tulips to bloom in a garden bed where no bulbs are planted.” However, no one has ever disputed his talent as a compiler of aphorisms.
