Marquis De Vauvenargues

Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.

Our failings sometimes bind us to one another as closely as could virtue itself.

You are not born for fame if you don't know the value of time.

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

To possess taste, one must have some soul.

We should expect the best and the worst of mankind, as from the weather.

All grand thoughts come from the heart.

If people did not compliment one another there would be little society.

Everyone is born sincere and die deceivers.

Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts.

The art of pleasing is the art of deception.

There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do.

The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one's opportunities and make the most of one's resources.

Men sometimes feel injured by praise because it assigns a limit to their merit; few people are modest enough not to take offense that one appreciates them.

The law cannot equalize mankind in spite of nature.

You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.

The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success.

The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught.

Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something.

The idle always have a mind to do something.

Great thoughts always come from the heart.

To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.

One promises much, to avoid giving little.

The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambition.

To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.

Those who can bear all can dare all.

It is not true that equality is a law of nature. Nature has no equality. Its sovereign law is subordination and dependence.

Wicked people are always surprised to find ability in those that are good.

Emotions have taught mankind to reason.