Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
rock, more dangerous in the most important matters than sudden squalls
and the most violent tempests. The repose of idleness is a magic charm
which suddenly suspends the most ardent pursuits and the most obstinate
resolutions. In fact to give a true notion of this passion we must add
that idleness, like a beatitude of the soul, consoles us for all losses
and fills the vacancy of all our wants. (1665, No. 290.)
LVI.--We are very fond of reading others' characters, but we do not like
to be read ourselves. (1665, No. 296.)
LVII.--What a tiresome malady is that which forces one to preserve your
health by a severe regimen. (Ibid, No. 298.)
LVIII.--It is much easier to take love when one is free, than to get rid
of it after having taken it. (1665, No. 300.)
LIX.--Women for the most part surrender themselves more from weakness
than from passion. Whence it is that bold and pushing men succeed better
than others, although they are not so loveable. (1665, No. 301.)
LX.--Not to love is in love, an infallible means of being beloved.
(1665, No. 302.)
LXI.--The sincerity which lovers and mistresses ask that both should
know when they cease to love each other, arises much less from a wish
to be warned of the cessation of love, than from a desire to be assured
that they are beloved although no one denies it. (1665, No. 303.)
LXII.--The most just comparison of love is that of a fever, and we have
no power over either, as to its violence or its duration. (1665, No.
305.)
LXIII.--The greatest skill of the least skilful is to know how to submit
to the direction of another. (1665, No. 309.)
LXIV.--We always fear to see those whom we love when we have been
flirting with others. (16{74}, No. 372.)
LXV.--We ought to console ourselves for our faults when we have strength
enough to own them. (16{74}, No. 375.)
{The date of the previous two maxims is incorrectly cited as 1665 in
the text. I found this date immediately suspect because the translators'
introduction states that the 1665 edition only had 316 maxims. In fact,
the two maxims only appeared in the fourth of the first five editions
(1674).}
SECOND SUPPLEMENT.
REFLECTIONS, EXTRACTED FROM MS. LETTERS IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY.*
*A La Bibliotheque Du Roi, it is difficult at present (June
1871) to assign a name to the magnificent collection of
books in Paris, the property of the nation.
LXVI.--Interest is the soul of self-love, in as much as when the body
deprived of its soul is without sight, feeling or knowledge, without
thought or movement, so self-love, riven so to speak from its interest,
neither sees, nor hears, nor smells, nor moves; thus it is that the same
man who will run over land and sea for his own interest becomes suddenly
paralyzed when engaged for that of others; from this arises that sudden
dulness and, as it were, death, with which we afflict those to whom we
speak of our own matters; from this also their sudden resurrection when
in our narrative we relate something concerning them; from this we find
in our conversations and business that a man becomes dull or bright
just as his own interest is near to him or distant from him. (Letter To
Madame De Sable, Ms., Fol. 211.)
LXVII.--Why we cry out so much against maxims which lay bare the heart
of man, is because we fear that our own heart shall be laid bare. (Maxim
103, MS., fol. 310.*)
*The reader will recognise in these extracts portions of the
Maxims previously given, sometimes the author has carefully
polished them; at other times the words are identical. Our
numbers will indicate where they are to be found in the
foregoing collection.
LXVIII.--Hope and fear are inseparable. (To Madame De Sable, Ms., Fol.
222, MAX. 168.)
LXIX.--It is a common thing to hazard life to escape dishonour;
but, when this is done, the actor takes very little pain to make the
enterprise succeed in which he is engaged, and certain it is that they
who hazard their lives to take a city or to conquer a province are
better officers, have more merit, and wider and more useful, views than
they who merely expose themselves to vindicate their honour; it is very
common to find people of the latter class, very rare to find those of
the former. (Letter To M. Esprit, Ms., Fol. 173, MAX. 219.)
LXX.--The taste changes, but the will remains the same. (To Madame De
Sable, Fol. 223, Max. 252.)
LXXI.--The power which women whom we love have over us is greater than
that which we have over ourselves. (To The Same, Ms., Fol. 211, Max.
259)
LXXII.--That which makes us believe so easily that others have defects
is that we all so easily believe what we wish. (To The Same, Ms., Fol.
223, Max. 397.)
LXXIII.--I am perfectly aware that good sense and fine wit are tedious
to every age, but tastes are not always the same, and what is good
at one time will not seem so at another. This makes me think that few
persons know how to be old. (To The Same, Fol. 202, Max. 423.)
LXXIV.--God has permitted, to punish man for his original sin, that he
should be so fond of his self-love, that he should be tormented by it in
all the actions of his life. (Ms., Fol. 310, Max. 494.)
LXXV.--And so far it seems to me the philosophy of a lacquey can go; I
believe that all gaity in that state of life is very doubtful indeed.
(To Madame De Sable, Fol. 161, Max. 504.)
[In the maxim cited the author relates how a footman about to be broken
on the wheel danced on the scaffold. He seems to think that in his day
the life of such servants was so miserable that their merriment was very
doubtful.]
THIRD SUPPLEMENT
[The fifty following Maxims are taken from the Sixth Edition of the
Pensees De La Rochefoucauld, published by Claude Barbin, in 1693, more
than twelve years after the death of the author (17th May, 1680). The
reader will find some repetitions, but also some very valuable maxims.]
LXXVI.--Many persons wish to be devout; but no one wishes to be humble.
LXXVII.--The labour of the body frees us from the pains of the mind, and
thus makes the poor happy.
LXXVIII.--True penitential sorrows (mortifications) are those which are
not known, vanity renders the others easy enough.
LXXIX.--Humility is the altar upon which God wishes that we should offer
him his sacrifices.
LXXX.--Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make
a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.
LXXXI.--We trouble ourselves less to become happy, than to make others
believe we are so.
LXXXII.--It is more easy to extinguish the first desire than to satisfy
those which follow.
LXXXIII.--Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.
LXXXIV.--The great ones of the earth can neither command health of body
nor repose of mind, and they buy always at too dear a price the good
they can acquire.
LXXXV.--Before strongly desiring anything we should examine what
happiness he has who possesses it.
LXXXVI.--A true friend is the greatest of all goods, and that of which
we think least of acquiring.
LXXXVII.--Lovers do not wish to see the faults of their mistresses until
their enchantment is at an end.
LXXXVIII.--Prudence and love are not made for each other; in the ratio
that love increases, prudence diminishes.
LXXXIX.--It is sometimes pleasing to a husband to have a jealous wife;
he hears her always speaking of the beloved object.
XC.--How much is a woman to be pitied who is at the same time possessed
of virtue and love!
XCI.--The wise man finds it better not to enter the encounter than to
conquer.
[Somewhat similar to Goldsmith's sage-- "Who quits {a} world where
strong temptations try, And since 'tis hard to co{mbat}, learns to
fly."]
XCII.--It is more necessary to study men than books.
["The proper study of mankind is man."--Pope {Essay On Man, (1733),
Epistle II, line 2}.]
XCIII.--Good and evil ordinarily come to those who have most of one or
the other.
XCIV.--The accent and character of one's native country dwells in the
mind and heart as on the tongue. (Repitition Of Maxim 342.)
XCV.--The greater part of men have qualities which, like those of
plants, are discovered by chance. (Repitition Of Maxim 344.)
XCVI.--A good woman is a hidden treasure; he who discovers her will do
well not to boast about it. (See Maxim 368.)
XCVII.--Most women do not weep for the loss of a lover to show that they
have been loved so much as to show that they are worth being loved. (See
Maxim 362.)
XCVIII.--There are many virtuous women who are weary of the part they
have played. (See Maxim 367.)
XCIX.--If we think we love for love's sake we are much mistaken. (See
Maxim 374.)
C.--The restraint we lay upon ourselves to be constant, is not much
better than an inconstancy. (See Maxim 369, 381.)
CI.--There are those who avoid our jealousy, of whom we ought to be
jealous. (See Maxim 359.)
CII.--Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with
it. (See Maxim 361.)
CIII.--When we love too much it is difficult to discover when we have
ceased to be beloved.
CIV.--We know very well that we should not talk about our wives, but we
do not remember that it is not so well to speak of ourselves. (See Maxim
364.)
CV.--Chance makes us known to others and to ourselves. (See Maxim 345.)
CVI.--We find very few people of good sense, except those who are of our
own opinion. (See Maxim 347.)
CVII.--We commonly praise the good hearts of those who admire us. (See
Maxim 356.)
CVIII.--Man only blames himself in order that he may be praised.
CIX.--Little minds are wounded by the smallest things. (See Maxim 357.)
CX.--There are certain faults which placed in a good light please more
than perfection itself. (See Maxim 354.)
CXI.--That which makes us so bitter against those who do us a shrewd
turn, is because they think themselves more clever than we are. (See
Maxim 350.)
CXII.--We are always bored by those whom we bore. (See Maxim 352.)
CXIII.--The harm that others do us is often less than that we do
ourselves. (See Maxim 363.)
CXIV.--It is never more difficult to speak well than when we are ashamed
of being silent.
CXV.--Those faults are always pardonable that we have the courage to
avow.
CXVI.--The greatest fault of penetration is not that it goes to the
bottom of a matter--but beyond it. (See Maxim 377.)
CXVII.--We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
(See Maxim 378.)
CXVIII.--When our merit declines, our taste declines also. (See Maxim
379.)
CXIX.--Fortune discovers our vices and our virtues, as the light makes
objects plain to the sight. (See Maxim 380.)
CXX.--Our actions are like rhymed verse-ends (Bouts-Rimes) which
everyone turns as he pleases. (See Maxim 382.)
CXXI.--There is nothing more natural, nor more deceptive, than to
believe that we are beloved.
CXXII.--We would rather see those to whom we have done a benefit, than
those who have done us one.
CXXIII.--It is more difficult to hide the opinions we have than to feign
those which we have not.
CXXIV.--Renewed friendships require more care than those that have never
been broken.
CXXV.--A man to whom no one is pleasing is much more unhappy than one
who pleases nobody.
REFLECTIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, BY THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
I. On Confidence.
Though sincerity and confidence have many points of resemblance, they
have yet many points of difference.
Sincerity is an openness of heart, which shows us what we are, a love
of truth, a dislike to deception, a wish to compensate our faults and to
lessen them by the merit of confessing them.
Confidence leaves us less liberty, its rules are stricter, it requires
more prudence and reticence, and we are not always free to give it. It