La Rochefoucauld Maxims

By La Rochefoucauld

After abandoning politics when he was about forty, François, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) began to write down his maxims, which were first published in book form in 1665. Poetic, ironic, and frequently humorous, his wise observations can also be blunt and brutally candid:
Everyone blames his memory, no one his judgment.
Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are
impossible
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
The more than 500 brief musings included here make for entertaining and thought-provoking reading. This invaluable collection will also serve as a sourcebook for writers, speakers, or anyone who needs a quick quip.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Mar 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486137445

Book preview

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged republication of Maxims of Le Duc de La Rochefoucauld, originally published by Houghton Mifflin Company at The Riverside Press, Cambridge, in 1917. The first French edition, entitled Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales, was published in 1665; La Rochefoucauld continued to edit and add to them till his death in 1680, and a few more maxims were added after his death.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

La Rochefoucauld, François, duc de, 1613–1680.

[Maximes. English.]

Maxims of La Rochefoucauld / François, duc de la Rochefoucauld ; translated by John Heard, Jr.

p. cm.

Originally published: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1917.

9780486137445

1. Maxims. I. Heard, John, b. 1889. II. Title.

PQ1815.A72 2006

848’.402—dc22

2006046346

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

THE MAN AND HIS OWN IMAGE

SKETCH OF THE DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

MAXIMS

To A. W. W.

Who originally suggested and throughout

encouraged this translation, it is

affectionately dedicated

THE MAN AND HIS OWN IMAGE

(Fables de La Fontaine, I Lib. XL.)

An egotist, unrivalled, loved himself alone

And deemed himself by far the fairest of mankind,

Crying aloud that from each mirror falsehood shone,

And in his depth of folly lived content and blind;

But kindly Fate, to cure him of this sore disease,

Contrived that everywhere he sees

Those silent counsellors of ladies old and young,—

Mirrors, at home, abroad, and in each tradesman’s booth,

The mirrors of fair gilded youth,

The mirrors from slim girdles hung

What does Narcissus then? He moves his habitation

To lands the most remote in his imagination,

Fearing to face again the mirrors’ searching stare,

Yet even there a brook, translucent as the air,

Flowed smoothly through these distant parts.

He sees himself, is vexed, mistrusts his eyes, and starts,

Thinking himself the victim of a shadowy dream;

He seeks by every means to flee the treacherous flow,

And yet . . . how very fair the stream,

How very loath he is to go!

Apparent is, methinks, my aim;

I sing to all; this greatest of all faults

Dwells variously in each, yet constantly the same.

Our heart’s the egotist whom love of self exalts;

The mirrors are the faults our neighbors all display,—

Mirrors that like true portraits our weaknesses disclose;

The brook is—as I scarce need say—

The Book of Maxims that the reader knows.

SKETCH OF THE DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

By Himself

I AM of medium stature; I am well proportioned and my gestures are easy. My coloring is dark but harmonious. My forehead is high and rather broad; my eyes black, small and deep set; my eyebrows are dark and bushy, but well shaped. I am at a loss what to say of the shape of my nose, for it is neither hooked nor aquiline, heavy nor yet, to my knowledge, sharp; all that I can say of it is that it is large rather than small, and that it is a trifle too long. My mouth is large and my lips are usually fairly red and neither well nor ill shaped. My teeth are white and moderately regular. People have told me that my chin is too pronounced. I have just examined myself in the mirror to ascertain the truth of the matter, and I do not quite know what judgment to pronounce. My face is certainly square or oval—I hardly know which. My hair is black, curls naturally and is sufficiently abundant to sustain my pretension to a fine head.

My expression is both haughty and sad, which leads most persons to deem me supercilious, although in reality quite the reverse. My gestures are easy, perhaps

Reviews for La Rochefoucauld Maxims

[madepercy-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I will be adding this book of more than 500 maxims to my daily reflections, along with The Daily Stoic and James Allen's As A Man Thinketh. I had to read each maxim at least twice, as there is nothing in this book that should be overlooked. Unlike a novel, where the virtue or vice considered as part of an overarching theme builds over time, each maxim in this book is straight to the point, causing one to pause and reflect on each occasion. There are too many favourite maxims to list, but this one resonates deeply: "239. To whatever we may ascribe our misfortunes, they are generally the results of selfishness and of vanity". La Rochefoucauld uses wit and humour to address life lessons that mirror life itself. What I mean by this is that if one were to read this book sans humour, one would want to end it all - the reality would be too much. Likewise, sans seriousness, this would not be remotely funny. But by moving between old and young, male and female (inherently sexist in a seventeenth-century way), humorous and foreboding, witty and caustic, and so on, the maxims paint a picture of wisdom that can only come from one who has had the mask of self-deception torn from his face. If fools learn by their mistakes, then this is one book where the wise might learn from the mistakes of fools. But don't get too cocky: "214. A man (sic) who is never foolish is not as wise as he thinks".

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A discussion of human conduct seen through the light of maxims or short reflections of the human experience. These can be bitter and pessimistic, yet thoughtful reading and regard for their deeper meaning yields benefits to the modern reader.

[jon1lambert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These are fascinating but require some thought. What first seems clear may not be. A book to dip into.