La rochefoucauld maxims. La Rochefoucauld Maxims 2023-01-02
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La Rochefoucauld's Maxims are a collection of moral reflections written by the French writer and moralist François de La Rochefoucauld in the 17th century. The Maxims are known for their cynical and pessimistic view of human nature, as well as their wit and irony.
One of the most famous of La Rochefoucauld's Maxims is "Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue." This maxim highlights the fact that people often present themselves as being more virtuous or moral than they really are, in order to gain approval or avoid criticism. This idea is still relevant today, as many people continue to present a false image of themselves to others in order to gain social approval or avoid criticism.
Another famous maxim is "The only thing constant in life is change." This maxim reflects the idea that nothing in life is permanent, and that change is inevitable. This idea can be seen as both a positive and a negative. On the one hand, change can bring about new opportunities and experiences. On the other hand, it can also bring about uncertainty and discomfort.
La Rochefoucauld's Maxims also often touch upon the theme of self-interest, with many of the maxims focusing on how people's actions are motivated by their own desires and self-interest, rather than by a sense of morality or virtue. For example, one of the maxims states that "Self-love is the most universal and most infallible of all the passions; it is the source of all the others, and it is the one that is most deeply rooted in us." This maxim suggests that people's actions are often driven by their own self-interest, rather than by a desire to do good or to be virtuous.
Overall, La Rochefoucauld's Maxims offer a cynical and pessimistic view of human nature, but they also contain a great deal of wisdom and insight. They serve as a reminder that people are often motivated by their own desires and self-interest, and that hypocrisy and deceit are common in human interactions. At the same time, however, they also remind us that change is inevitable and that it is important to adapt and embrace it.
La Rochefoucauld Maxims & philosophy
His maxims remind me that oftentimes success in life comes through mere luck and that Lady Luck is a fickle dame. La Rochefoucauld's Maxims make splendid reading and a splendid philosophical reference. No fools are as annoying as intelligent ones. They are a natural art, the rules of which are infallible; and the simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without. Prudence collects and blends the two and renders them useful against the ills of life. We do not like to praise, and we never praise without a motive. It lets me try to practice my French and also enjoy the translation process.
The mind cannot act the role of the heart for long. There are people with merits who leave a bad taste in the mouth, and people with faults who are likeable. La Rochefoucauld was one of the leading rebel noblemen during these wars. I want to say to begin with that reading "Portrait de M. Thus the dead have the credit of tears shed for the living.
I think that whenever I am able to read an author's work and it offers me another perspective on life which I find to be valuable, I appreciate it much. To put a good face upon it, let it suffice, not to say all that we think to ourselves, but rely more on our nature than on our fallible reason, which might make us think we could approach death with indifference. Example: Virtue would not go so far if vanity did not keep her company. Prudence gathers them and tempers them, and puts them to good use against the ills of life. Amidst all of this there was a passionate love affair that ended badly for La Rochefoucauld. This light penetrates to the bottom of matters; it remarks all that can be remarked, and perceives what appears imperceptible. Weak people cannot be sincere.
Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do. We are very far from knowing all our wishes. The founding principle of philosophy is perhaps the astonishment, source of the questions. Old age is a tyrant that forbids all the pleasures of youth on pain of death. If this jives with your view of humanity, read Rochefoucauld.
There were some things that I did not think of before, and those things which I had not thought of offered me a valuable perspective. They should affect us in the same proportion as a single shelter affects those who in war storm a fortress. We wish to find the guilty, and we do not wish to trouble ourselves in examining the crime. Independent from any institution or philosophical thought, the site is maintained by a team of former students in human sciences, now professors or journalists. Maybe I'm just super pessimistic too and didn't realize it? How can we expect another person to keep our secret, if we cannot keep it ourselves? To me, that last part was less autobiographical and more personal. It is a delicate foresight of the troubles into which we may fall.
. Most men, like plants, have hidden characteristics that are revealed by chance. Our greediness so often troubles us, making us run after so many things at the same time, that while we too eagerly look after the least we miss the greatest. 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. Willis Bund and J. Given how nearly sublimely pessimistic La Rochefoucauld's attitude is, I'm not sure what to think about the translator's claim that "it is one of the most deeply felt, most intensely lived texts in French literature.
We always prrefer ourselves to those with whom we intend to live, and we almost always make them conscious of this preference; that is what disturbs and destroys social intercourse. To draw attention to the fact that you never flirt is itself a form of flirtatiousness. Cato and Brutus each selected noble ones. Men will freely expose themselves at the beginning of an action, and relax and be easily discouraged if it should last. There is another kind not so innocent because it imposes on all the world, that is the grief of those who aspire to the glory of a noble and immortal sorrow.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore. . We are never as fortunate or unfortunate as we imagine. Not even those who commit suicide regard it as a light matter, and are as much alarmed and startled as the rest of the world if death meets them in a different way than the one they have selected. France went through a lot of change and catharsis in the 17th century, from the brutal and exhausting civil way of La Fronde to the renaissance of La Rochefoucauld was in the middle of many of the events; he was involved in many political activities favouring the queen, Anne of Austria, against her estranged husband, the king, Louis XIII. After that, I guarantee that he will be the first to subscribe to them, and that he will think them only too favourable to the human heart.
And yet it is but taking the shortest way to arrive at its aim, taking usury under the pretext of giving, in fact winning everybody in a subtle and delicate manner. This could be the clarion call of social media: people willing to believe in the alleged evils of people and things without taking the trouble to apply some critical thought and examine the claims rationally. The world rewards appearances of merit more often than merit itself. Whenever I think that I have overlooked something, especially something important, I feel compelled to look back and see what it is I overlooked. Or if we do happen to entertain the thought that it might be wholly true, we entertain that thought only while actually reading it; a few minutes later we put the book aside and turn our minds to other, more comfortable things; we live, in practice, as if we had never read it.
