Reflections on human nature

125

Habitual recourse to intrigue is the mark of a little mind, and it almost always happens that a man who uses it to cover himself on one side uncovers himself on another.

127

The surest way to be taken in is to think oneself craftier than other people.

134

We are never so ridiculous through qualities we have as through those we pretend to have.

269

Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do.

284

Some evil men would be less dangerous if there were no good in them at all.

291

Men's worth, like fruit, has its season.

318

There are ways of curing madness, but none of righting the wrong-headed.

345

Circumstances reveal us to others and still more to ourselves.

350

The reason we so bitterly resent attempts to outsmart us is that those who make them think they are cleverer than we are.

373

Often we are taken in ourselves by some of the tears with which we have deceived others.

378

We give advice but we do not influence people's conduct.

394

You can outsmart one other person, but not all the others.

397

We have not the courage to declare as a general principle that we have no shortcomings and our enemies no good qualities; but when it comes to details that is what we are none too far from believing.

412

Whatever disgrace we have brought upon ourselves, it almost always lies in our power to recover our good name.

424

We pride ourselves on the opposite faults to those we have; when we are weak we boast of being unyielding.

448

It is less trouble for the right-thinking to let the wrong-headed have their way than it is to put them right.

454

There are hardly any circumstances in which we would make a bad bargain if we gave up the good said of us on condition that no evil were said either.

455

However prone the world may be to misjudge, it is nevertheless indulgent towards false merit even more often than it is unjust to genuine.

458

Our enemies are nearer the truth in their opinion of us than we are ourselves.

468

Some bad qualities make great talents.

529

Cunning is a poor substitute for sagacity.

549

A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join battle than to win.

588

We have as much right to complain about those who teach us to know ourselves as that Athenian madman who complained about the doctor for having cured him of thinking he was rich.

591

Even the wisest are wise in insignificant things but scarcely ever in their own most important affairs.

La Rochefoucauld, Maxims