François de La Rochefoucauld: Good

François de La Rochefoucauld was French author of maxims and memoirs. Explore interesting quotes on good.
François de La Rochefoucauld: 312 quotes22 likes

“The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Le mal que nous faisons ne nous attire pas tant de persécution et de haine que nos bonnes qualités.
Maxim 29.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“He loves to imitate. We often imitate the same person without perceiving it, and we neglect our own good qualities for the good qualities of others, which generally do not suit us.”

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), VII. On Air and Manner
Context: Few men, nevertheless, can have unison in many matters without being a copy of each other, if each follow his natural turn of mind. But in general a person will not wholly follow it. He loves to imitate. We often imitate the same person without perceiving it, and we neglect our own good qualities for the good qualities of others, which generally do not suit us.

“All men want to be different, and to be greater than they are; they seek for an air other than their own, and a mind different from what they possess; they take their style and manner at chance. They make experiments upon themselves without considering that what suits one person will not suit everyone, that there is no universal rule for taste or manners, and that there are no good copies.”

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), VII. On Air and Manner

“There are good marriages, but no delicious ones.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Il y a de bons mariages, mais il n'y en a point de délicieux.
Maxim 113.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Nobody deserves to be praised for goodness unless he is strong enough to be bad, for any other goodness is usually merely inertia or lack of will-power.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Nul ne mérite d’être loué de bonté, s’il n’a pas la force d’être méchant: toute autre bonté n’est le plus souvent qu’une paresse ou une impuissance de la volonté.
Maxim 237.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer provide bad examples.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Les vieillards aiment à donner de bons préceptes, pour se consoler de n'être plus en état de donner de mauvais exemples.
Maxim 93.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Il faut de plus grandes vertus pour soutenir la bonne fortune que la mauvaise.
Maxim 25.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Nous ne trouvons guère de gens de bon sens, que ceux qui sont de notre avis.
Maxim 347. Compare: "'That was excellently observed,' say I when I read a passage in another where his opinion agrees with mine. When we differ, then I pronounce him to be mistaken." Jonathan Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Fortunate people seldom mend their ways, for when good luck crowns their misdeeds with success they think it is because they are right.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Les gens heureux ne se corrigent guère; ils croient toujours avoir raison quand la fortune soutient leur mauvaise conduite.
Maxim 227.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Luck must be dealt with like health: enjoy it when it is good, be patient when it is bad.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Il faut gouverner la fortune comme la santé: en jouir quand elle est bonne, prendre patience quand elle est mauvaise.
Maxim 392.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“The reason that there are so few good conversationalists is that most people are thinking about what they are going to say and not about what the others are saying.”

François de La Rochefoucauld

Ce qui fait que si peu de personnes sont agréables dans la conversation, c'est que chacun songe plus à ce qu'il veut dire qu'à ce que les autres disent.
Réflexions diverses, IV: De la conversation.
Later Additions to the Maxims

“What grace is to the body, good sense is to the mind.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

La bonne grâce est au corps ce que le bon sens est à l'esprit.
Maxim 67.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Friendship is only a reciprocal conciliation of interests, and an exchange of good offices; it is a species of commerce out of which self-love always expects to gain something.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Ce que les hommes ont nommé amitié n'est qu'une société, qu'un ménagement réciproque d'intérêts, et qu'un échange de bons offices; ce n'est enfin qu'un commerce où l'amour-propre se propose toujours quelque chose à gagner.
Maxim 83.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Some people's faults are becoming to them; others are disgraced by their own good traits.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

Il y a des personnes à qui les défauts siéent bien, et d'autres qui sont disgraciées avec leurs bonnes qualités.
Maxim 251.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Thousands of people with good qualities are displeasing; thousands pleasing with far less abilities, and why? Because the first wish to appear to be what they are not, the second are what they appear. Some of the advantages or disadvantages that we have received from nature please in proportion as we know the air, the style, the manner, the sentiments that coincide with our condition and our appearance, and displease in the proportion they are removed from that point.”

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), VII. On Air and Manner