Quotes by Moralists

There are no ugly women there are only women who do not know how to look pretty.
Jean de La Bruyère
A man often runs the risk of throwing away a witticism if he admits that it is his own.
Jean de La Bruyère
True love is like ghosts which everybody talks about and few have seen.
François de La Rochefoucauld
I always say to myself what is the most important thing we can think about at this extraordinary moment.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The prospect of being pleased tomorrow will never console me for the boredom of today.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present which seldom happens to us.
Jean de La Bruyère
There are but two ways of rising in the world: either by one's own industry or profiting by the foolishness of others.
Jean de La Bruyère
There is no business in the world so troublesome as the pursuit of fame: life is over before you have hardly begun your work.
Jean de La Bruyère
We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.
François de La Rochefoucauld
When thought is too weak to be simply expressed it's clear proof that it should be rejected.
Luc de Clapiers
True eloquence consists of saying all that should be said and that only.
François de La Rochefoucauld
It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent.
Jean de La Bruyère
It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgement to be silent.
Jean de La Bruyère
A man who finds no satisfaction in himself seeks for it in vain elsewhere.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth to much of that which we have in others.
François de La Rochefoucauld
It is as proper to have pride in oneself as it is ridiculous to show it to others.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Nothing is so infectious as example.
François de La Rochefoucauld
There are more defects in temperament than in the mind.
François de La Rochefoucauld
We must laugh before we are happy for fear of dying without having laughed at all.
Jean de La Bruyère
To establish oneself in the world one has to do all one can to appear established.
François de La Rochefoucauld
There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.
Jean de La Bruyère
We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think.
François de La Rochefoucauld
A man must have very eminent qualities to hold his own without being polite.
Jean de La Bruyère
Out of difficulties grow miracles.
Jean de La Bruyère
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
François de La Rochefoucauld
In jealousy there is more of self-love than love.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything let us examine how happy they are who already possess it.
François de La Rochefoucauld
In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that are offered.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its brevity.
Jean de La Bruyère
He who has lived a day has lived an age.
Jean de La Bruyère
There are more defects in temperament than in the mind.
François de La Rochefoucauld
We must laugh before we are happy for fear of dying without having laughed at all.
Jean de La Bruyère
To establish oneself in the world one has to do all one can to appear established.
François de La Rochefoucauld
There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.
Jean de La Bruyère
The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth to much of that which we have in others.
François de La Rochefoucauld
We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think.
François de La Rochefoucauld
A man must have very eminent qualities to hold his own without being polite.
Jean de La Bruyère
Out of difficulties grow miracles.
Jean de La Bruyère
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
François de La Rochefoucauld
In jealousy there is more of self-love than love.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything let us examine how happy they are who already possess it.
François de La Rochefoucauld
In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that are offered.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its brevity.
Jean de La Bruyère
He who has lived a day has lived an age.
Jean de La Bruyère
The virtues and the vices are all put in motion by interest.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Interest speaks all sorts of tongues and plays all sorts of parts even that of disinterestedness.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Happiness is in the taste and not in the things themselves we are happy from possessing what we like not from possessing what others like.
François de La Rochefoucauld
A modest man never talks of himself.
Jean de La Bruyère
As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live a physician will be made fun of but he will be well paid.
Jean de La Bruyère
Though men pride themselves on their great actions often they are not the result of any great design but of chance.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.
Jean de La Bruyère
Liberality consists less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.
Jean de La Bruyère
We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The intellect is always fooled by the heart.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Hope is the last thing that dies in man.
François de La Rochefoucauld
The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others.
Jean de La Bruyère
Great thoughts come from the heart.
Luc de Clapiers
A man's happiness or unhappiness depends as much on his temperament as on his destiny.
François de La Rochefoucauld
We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think.
François de La Rochefoucauld
If we have not peace within ourselves it is in vain to seek it from outward sources.
François de La Rochefoucauld