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100th out of 324 books
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657 voters
Maxims
The translation of this bilingual edition of La Rochefoucauld's Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales (long known in English simply as the Maxims) is the first to appear in forty years. It is completely new and aims - unlike all previous versions - at being as literal as possible. This involves, among other things, rendering the same word - for example, amour-propre a...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
January 28th 1982
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1665)
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The full title of the text is Reflections or Aphorisms and Moral Maxims; and in centered text below the title are the words "Our virtues are usually only vices in disguise." The subtitle says as much as the title. These aphorisms are bitter as they are pithy. Perhaps not bitter -- say, rather, that La Rochefoucauld was not optimistic about human nature. Very few of these aphorisms speak of love, friendship, virtue, or humility with anything but skepticism.
Given how nearly sublimely pessimistic L...more
Given how nearly sublimely pessimistic L...more
Wow. This is seeing the glass all the way empty (& maybe smashed).
Lilian Tomlin said something like, no matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to keep up. If this jives with your view of humanity, read Rochefoucauld.
The maxims are short and pithy and misanthropic:
Self-love is subtler than the subtlest man of the world.
The moderation of happy people comes from the tranquility that good fortune gives to their disposition.
What is called generosity is most often just the vanity of giving,...more
Lilian Tomlin said something like, no matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to keep up. If this jives with your view of humanity, read Rochefoucauld.
The maxims are short and pithy and misanthropic:
Self-love is subtler than the subtlest man of the world.
The moderation of happy people comes from the tranquility that good fortune gives to their disposition.
What is called generosity is most often just the vanity of giving,...more
2 likes · like · see review
La Rochefoucauld’s maxims are all things that good maxims should be: pithy, shrewd, redolent of experience, and memorable. A sampling: “Few things are impossible in themselves, it is not so much the means we lack as perseverance to make them succeed.” “We are far indeed from knowing all we want.” “It is easier to stifle a first desire than to satisfy all the ensuing ones.” “We are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end up disguising ourselves from ourselves.” “Nature provides th...more
Some of the maxims that caught my eye:
"Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it."
Maxim 22
"We have more strength than will; and it is often merely for an excuse we say things are impossible." Maxim 30
"Those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things."
Maxim 41
"We have not enough strength to follow all our reason." Maxim 42
"Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things themselves; we are happy fro...more
"Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it."
Maxim 22
"We have more strength than will; and it is often merely for an excuse we say things are impossible." Maxim 30
"Those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things."
Maxim 41
"We have not enough strength to follow all our reason." Maxim 42
"Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things themselves; we are happy fro...more
This took me months to finish, but I enjoyed it. Well, except for this one maxim:
A woman may like science, but all sciences are not suitable for her, and the doctrines of certain sciences never become her, and when applied by her are always false.
But here are the maxims I liked:
I like reading, in general; but that in which one finds something to polish the wit and strengthen the soul is what I like best. But, above all, I have the greatest pleasure in reading with an intelligent person, for then...more
A woman may like science, but all sciences are not suitable for her, and the doctrines of certain sciences never become her, and when applied by her are always false.
But here are the maxims I liked:
I like reading, in general; but that in which one finds something to polish the wit and strengthen the soul is what I like best. But, above all, I have the greatest pleasure in reading with an intelligent person, for then...more
1: "What we take for virtues are often merely a collection of different acts and personal interests pieced together by chance or our own ingenuity and it is not always because of valour or chastity that men are valiant or women chaste."
2: "Self love is the greatest flatterer of all."
etc...
Some take this book as cycnical, and read with a modern sensibility it could be seen that way. But really, it's a thesis on certain aspects of Christian thought: know thyself; all are sinners; to sin in the min...more
2: "Self love is the greatest flatterer of all."
etc...
Some take this book as cycnical, and read with a modern sensibility it could be seen that way. But really, it's a thesis on certain aspects of Christian thought: know thyself; all are sinners; to sin in the min...more
A mixed bag. There's a lot of unbelievable observation/insight in here (and apparently people sucked back then, too) but it also gets a little tedious to be told over and over that people don't know their real motives, and that all is a mask for self-love. Nietzsche would later steal not only the aphoristic style (which goes back to the pre-Socratics) of philosophy but also (1) that the brain is slave to the stomach (the intellect to the will), and (2) that all (good, evil, virtue, vice, love, h...more
Mar 08, 2013
Nathan "N.R." Gaddis
marked it as the-value-of-a-dollar
Recommended to Nathan "N.R." by:
Moira Russell
Shelves:
classic-literature
Vanity causes me to pursue an accounting of the following exchange:
"Nathan "N.R." wrote: "There is nothing worse in the world than someone who has fallen in love."
[Moira]: Nathan, you get the La Rochefoucauld (sp) award for the day."
1 like · like · see review
'Amazing' is a bit of enthusiasm that doesn't really fit with La Rochefoucauld's pithy sentences. I'll settle for diamond-like or 'adamantine' instead. Even not in the wake of a bad relationship, these summations of human conduct, folly, and motivation are as true as philosophy could pose.
Depressing, bitter, single-sentence maxims that opened my naive eyes and made me want to choose to be a better person than most. La Rouchefoucauld published these first in 1665 (France), but at least 80 percent are still applicable today. Fascinating observations.
"Those who most obstinately oppose the most widely-held opinions more often do so because of pride than lack of intelligence. They find the best places in the right set already taken, and they do not want back seats."
Jul 03, 2007
Jeffrey
added it
Superb. Another book everyone should read before death whisks them away.
Heavenly, even if you aren't hopelessly cynical.
There were a few gems here, for example:
"There are some who never would have loved if they never had heard it spoken of."
"There are different kinds of curiosity: one springs from interest, which makes us desire to know everything that may be profitable to us; another from pride, which springs from a desire of knowing what others are ignorant of."
There are also some unfortunate ones:
"A woman may like science, but all sciences are not suitable for her, and the doctrines of certain sciences never b...more
"There are some who never would have loved if they never had heard it spoken of."
"There are different kinds of curiosity: one springs from interest, which makes us desire to know everything that may be profitable to us; another from pride, which springs from a desire of knowing what others are ignorant of."
There are also some unfortunate ones:
"A woman may like science, but all sciences are not suitable for her, and the doctrines of certain sciences never b...more
Philosophy is often considered a hard subject that talks about ethereal matters and whatnot, generally consumed by proud and arrogant people in need of witty quotes in times of argument. That view is esteriotipical, yes, but not false.
What I like the most about La Rochefoucauld is that he is very hard to use for those spurious purposes, since he's bluntly frank and talks only about his learnings, no bullshit and no pedantism.
For people in the search of a philosophy created by a person of simple...more
What I like the most about La Rochefoucauld is that he is very hard to use for those spurious purposes, since he's bluntly frank and talks only about his learnings, no bullshit and no pedantism.
For people in the search of a philosophy created by a person of simple...more
Too often books about philosophy and life are written in language that can be described as ambiguous at best. La Rochefoucauld instead expresses his thoughts on life in simple, mostly one-line, phrases. His views on mankind and the human condition are as true today as they were when he wrote them down. Plus, his format naturally lends itself to any reader who needs something to read on a bus or in a waiting room, as you can pick it up, read and be able to stop without being lost the next time yo...more
Men not only forget benefits and injuries; they hate those toward whom they are under an obligation and cringe to those who have insulted them. Gratitude and revenge, as duties, are yokes that gall.
Clemency, usually counted a virtue, is occasionally the outcome of vanity, sometimes of laziness, often of fear, and usually of all three.
Our Acts are like rhymes; we adopt whatever sequence we please.
Envy always outlives the happiness we envy.
Clemency, usually counted a virtue, is occasionally the outcome of vanity, sometimes of laziness, often of fear, and usually of all three.
Our Acts are like rhymes; we adopt whatever sequence we please.
Envy always outlives the happiness we envy.
I read this when I was about ten and went around quoting things out of it and feeling immensely proud of myself. Going back to it at 31, it's a lot more interesting now. The study of morality as evidenced in here is quite compelling, although of course some of his maxims have to be tossed out in today's social context.
Feb 16, 2009
Margaret
added it
Well it wasn't the penguin edition and it was an English translation,and it is now falling to pieces but some of the maxims have stayed with me for over 50 years even if slightly paraphrased e.g.
A virtuous woman is like hidden treasure - safe only unti sought after
There is something pleasing to us in the misfortunes of even our dearest friends (actually I have found that to be true of only comic misfortunes)
A virtuous woman is like hidden treasure - safe only unti sought after
There is something pleasing to us in the misfortunes of even our dearest friends (actually I have found that to be true of only comic misfortunes)
Jul 16, 2012
Greg Linster
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
all-time-favorites
Over the course of his life, La Rochefoucauld was not treated kindly by Fortuna. Accordingly, many of his maxims smack of cynicism, but I would argue that he's one of the best aphorists in history. He seems to have understood both the beautifulness and ugliness of human nature.
Un libro profundo y ligero a la vez, muy fácil de leer. Aunque no se compartan sus opiniones en todos los casos es muy agradable, el sarcasmo o la aparente "sencillez" con que describe las motivaciones más profundas del ser humano resumidas en frases cortas es impresionante. en lo personal me encantó!
I enjoy rereading these from time to time, because they are so insightful about human behavior. They're like a great friend who will tell you the truth, even when you don't want to hear it.
this was an interesting booklet, with very interesting inside - sentences from a thinking man who has seen (too) much in his life.
You can always think about this book and insert it into your life.
You can always think about this book and insert it into your life.
This frenchy was a wise man, though a bit cynical for my taste. I wish people still wrote books like this. I'd like to see what Adam Corolla's Maxims would look like.
I feel while I read these as if La Rochefoucauld is a friend of mine who is older, wiser, and in a subtle, half-conscious way, convincing me of the follies of cynicism.
Apr 03, 2008
Aaron Dellutri
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People curious about human motivation.
"Our virtues are usually only vices in disguise."
So begins this collection of hundreds of short aphorisms about human nature, most of them 3 sentences or less, which touch on love, war, business, courage, money, death, perception, politics, freindship, vanity, morality, laziness, and hypocrisy. The writer, the Duc De La Rochefoucauld, had a philosophy which linked all human action to people's "self-love".
Cynical, but not in a mean way. La Rochefoucauld was very good at seeing the hidden selfish...more
So begins this collection of hundreds of short aphorisms about human nature, most of them 3 sentences or less, which touch on love, war, business, courage, money, death, perception, politics, freindship, vanity, morality, laziness, and hypocrisy. The writer, the Duc De La Rochefoucauld, had a philosophy which linked all human action to people's "self-love".
Cynical, but not in a mean way. La Rochefoucauld was very good at seeing the hidden selfish...more
some pithy stuff. but too tendentious. too eager to subordinate all behaviour to self-love. an inadequate psychology.
Amazingly perceptive and frank. Written almost 400 years ago. Proof that people never change.
Some are quite clever, some are quite obvious, some are quite insightful, most are worth reading.
Ahhh, the French wit -- biting, urbane, and utterly committed to himself.
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François, duc de La Rochefoucauld, prince de Marcillac was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs, as well as an example of the accomplished 17th-century nobleman. He was born in Paris in the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court oscillated between aiding the nobility and threatening it. Until 1650, he bore the title of prince de Marcillac.
More about François de La Rochefoucauld...
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Feb 08, 2009 05:48pm