A compilation of Crème de la Crème Quotes by Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld

One reason that so few people that can carry on a rational and agreeable conversation is because virtually everyone puts more attention on what they want to say than they do on listening to what others are saying and answering them [accordingly]. [Even] the most clever and polite people are content with only appearing to be attentive… [but in truth], they are wandering from what is said, and really want to return to what they want to say…
The worst way to persuade or please others is to try thus strongly to please ourselves; and some of the greatest charms we can have in conversation come from listening well and answering well. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



The defects of the mind are like the wounds of the body: no matter how much care we take to heal them, the scars remain, and there is always the danger that they will reopen. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



In all aspects of life, we take on a part and an appearance to seem to be what we wish to be [seen as]—and thus the world is merely composed of actors. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Idiots and lunatics see only their own wit. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



However rare true love is, true friendship is rarer. -Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Most things are praised or condemned only because it is fashionable to praise or condemn them. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld


One may outwit another, but not all the others. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld


We can be more clever than one, but not more clever than all. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



What is commonly called friendship is no more than a partnership; a reciprocal regard for one another's interests, and an exchange of good offices; in a word, a mere traffic, wherein self-love always proposes to be a gainer. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



What seems generosity is often disguised ambition, that despises small to run after greater interests. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



We seldom find people ungrateful so long as we are in a condition to render them service. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



There are certain people fated to be fools; they not only commit follies by choice, but are even constrained to do so by fortune. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld


If we had no faults, we should not take so much pleasure in noting those [faults] of others. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Pride is for the most part the same in everybody—the only difference is in the method and manner of showing it. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Self-interest speaks all sorts of tongues and plays all sorts of characters—even that of self-disinterest. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Self-interest blinds some people, and makes others see. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



The changes in our moods fluctuate even more than fortune [/ chance] does. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Truth does not do as much good in the world as the semblance of truth does evil. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Silence is the safest policy for he who distrusts himself. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



What makes us so changeable in our friendships is that it is difficult to know the qualities of the soul, but it is easy to know those of the mind. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



We can love nothing except what we base on our own selves, and when we prefer our friends to ourselves, we are just following our own taste or pleasure. Nevertheless, it is only by that preference that friendship can be true and perfect. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Those who know their minds do not necessarily know their hearts. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Men and things each have their proper perspective. To judge some of them rightly, it is necessary to see them at near, while to judge others rightly, we must see them at a distance. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



The head cannot play the part of the heart for long. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



It is as easy to unknowingly deceive yourself as [it is] to deceive others. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Nothing is less sincere than the act of asking and giving advice. Although the asker seems to pay attention to the opinion of his friend, in reality he is just plotting to make the friend approve his [the asker’s] own opinion and to make the friend responsible for his [the asker’s] conduct.
The person giving the advice returns the confidence placed in him with a disinterested eagerness… and he is usually guided only by his own interest or reputation. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



The most deceitful people blame deceit in order to use it on some great occasion to promote a certain great self-interest. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



There are different kinds of curiosity: one comes from self-interest, which makes us want to know everything that may be profitable to us; another from pride, which comes from a desire to know what others are ignorant of. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



There are both heroes of evil and heroes of good. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Lucky people are usually bad players when it comes to correcting their faults; they always believe that they are right when chance [/ fortune] backs up their vice or folly. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Some lies are disguised so well to resemble the truth, that we should be poor judges of truth if not to be deceived by them. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



It is more necessary to study men than books. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



However rare true love is, true friendship is rarer. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



It is easier for a well-trained mind to submit to an ill-trained mind than to guide it. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld



We should often be ashamed of our very best actions if the world only saw the motives that caused them. - Francois duc de La Rochefoucauld

One Size Does Not Fit All

One Size Does Not Fit All

There is actually no one right way to work with, train or teach an animal or human beings. Any approach that says all animals and humans can be trained using the exact same methods is simply not correct because animals and humans are individuals. Each has a distinct personality as different as one animal from another and as well as one human being from another.