François de La Rochefoucauld: Use

François de La Rochefoucauld was French author of maxims and memoirs. Explore interesting quotes on use.

François de La Rochefoucauld: 312 quotes22 likes

“We should observe the place, the occasion, the temper in which we find the person who listens to us, for if there is much art in speaking to the purpose, there is no less in knowing when to be silent. There is an eloquent silence which serves to approve or to condemn, there is a silence of discretion and of respect. In a word, there is a tone, an air, a manner, which renders everything in conversation agreeable or disagreeable, refined or vulgar.”

François de La Rochefoucauld

Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), V. On Conversation

“What makes the vanity of others insufferable to us is that it wounds our own.”

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

Ce qui nous rend la vanité des autres insupportable, c'est qu'elle blesse la nôtre.
Maxim 389.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)