“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)

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François de La Rochefoucauld156

French author of maxims and memoirs 1613–1680

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“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.”

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