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

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

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)

Original

Le plus grand défaut de la pénétration n'est pas de n'aller point jusqu'au but, c'est de le passer.

Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

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François de La Rochefoucauld photo
François de La Rochefoucauld 156
French author of maxims and memoirs 1613–1680

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