François de La Rochefoucauld: Citations en anglais (Page 8)

“It is easier to be wise for others than for oneself.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Il est plus aisé d'être sage pour les autres que de l'être pour soi-même.
Maxim 132.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Absence extinguishes the minor passions and increases the great ones, as the wind blows out a candle and fans a fire.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

L'absence diminue les médiocres passions, et augmente les grandes, comme le vent éteint les bougies et allume le feu.
http://books.google.com/books?id=QSdPNfXQavAC&q=%22L'absence+diminue+les+m%C3%A9diocres+passions+et+augmente+les+grandes+comme+le+vent+%C3%A9teint+les+bougies+et+allume+le+feu%22&pg=PA75#v=onepage
Variant translation: Absence weakens the minor passions and adds to the effects of great ones, as the wind blows out a candle and fans a fire.
Maxim 276.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“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.”

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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.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

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)

“In their first passion, women love their lovers; in all the others, they love love.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Dans les premières passions les femmes aiment l'amant, et dans les autres elles aiment l'amour.
Maxim 471. Compare: "In her first passion woman loves her lover: In all the others, all she loves is love", Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto iii, Stanza 3.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“The greatest fault of a penetrating wit is to go beyond the mark.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Le plus grand défaut de la pénétration n'est pas de n'aller point jusqu'au but, c'est de le passer.
Variant translation: The greatest fault of a penetrating mind is not to fail to attain the mark but to go beyond it.
Maxim 377.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“There are many predicaments in life that one must be a bit crazy to escape from.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Il arrive quelquefois des accidents dans la vie d'où il faut être un peu fou pour se bien tirer.
Maxim 310.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“There are very few people who are not ashamed to be loved when they no longer do.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Il n'y a guère de gens qui ne soient honteux de s'être aimés, quand ils ne s'aiment plus.
Variant translation: There are very few people who are not ashamed to have loved when they no longer do.
Maxim 71.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“There are few honest women who are not tired of what they do.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Il y a peu d'honnêtes femmes qui ne soient lasses de leur métier.
Maxim 367.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“A man may be ungrateful but is less chargeable with ingratitude than his benefactor.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Tel homme est ingrat, qui est moins coupable de son ingratitude que celui qui lui a fait du bien.
Maxim 96.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“Those who have had great passions are happy all their lives and would be unhappy to have been cured of them.”

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François de La Rochefoucauld livre Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales

Ceux qui ont eu de grandes passions se trouvent toute leur vie heureux, et malheureux, d'en être guéris.
Maxim 485.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)