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To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.
[Fr., C'est une grande habilete que de savoir cacher son
habilete.]
Topic: Ability
Source: Maximes (245)
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Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as
the wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire.
[Fr., L'absence diminue les mediocres passions et augmente les
grandes, comme le vent eteint les bougies et allume le feu.]
Topic: Absence
Source: Maximes (276)
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We always love those who admire us, and we do not always love
those whom we admire.
Topic: Admiration
Source: Maxim (305)
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On dit que dans ses amours
Il fut caresse des belles,
Qui le suivirent toujours,
Tant qu'il marcha devant elles.
Topic: Admiration
Source: Maxim (305)
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In the adversity of our best friends we often find something
which does not displease us.
[Fr., Dans l'adversite de nos meilleurs amis nous trouvons
toujours quelque chose ne nous deplaist pas.]
Topic: Adversity
Source: Maxim (99)
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Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a
man's character, give him power.
Topic: Adversity
Source: Maxim (99)
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We give advice, but we do not inspire conduct.
Topic: Advice
Source: Maxim (403)
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Some people resemble ballads which are only sung for a certain
time.
Topic: Ballads
Source: Maxims (no. 220)
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True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one
might be capable of doing before all the world!
Topic: Bravery
Source: Maxims (216)
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Too great refinement is false delicacy, and true delicacy is
solid refinement.
Topic: Comparisons
Source: Maxims (no. 131)
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It is a species of coquetry to make a parade of never practising
it.
Topic: Coquetry
Source: Maxims (no. 110)
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Coquetry is the essential characteristic, and the prevalent humor
of women; but they do not all practise it, because the coquetry
of some is restrained by fear or by reason.
Topic: Coquetry
Source: Maxims (no. 252)
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Women know not the whole of their coquetry.
Topic: Coquetry
Source: Maxims (no. 342)
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The greatest miracle of love is the cure of coquetry.
Topic: Coquetry
Source: Maxims (no. 359)
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We can never be certain of our courage until we have faced
danger.
[Fr., On ne peut repondre de son courage quand on n'a jamais ete
dans le peril.]
Topic: Courage
Source: Premier Supplement (42)
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Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every
virtue at the testing point.
Topic: Courage
Source: Premier Supplement (42)
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One may outwit another, but not all the others.
[Fr., On peut etre plus fin qu'un autre, mais non pas plus fin
que tous les autres.]
Topic: Deceit
Source: Maxim (394)
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We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the
manner in which it is done.
[Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que
a maniere de flatter.]
Topic: Flattery
Source: Maximes (329)
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Gallantry of mind consists in saying flattering things in an
agreeable manner.
Topic: Flattery
Source: Maxims (103)
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The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving
greater benefits.
Topic: Gratitude
Source: Maxim (298)
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It is the prerogative of great men only to have great defects.
[Fr., Il n'appartient qu'aux grands hommes d'avoir de grands
defauts.]
Topic: Greatness
Source: Maximes
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We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.
Topic: Happiness
Source: None
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Preserving the health by too strict a regimen is a worrisome
malady.
Topic: Health
Source: Maxims (no. 285)
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Attention to health is life greatest hindrance.
Topic: Health
Source: Maxims (no. 285)
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There are heroes in evil as well as in good.
Topic: Heroes
Source: Maxims (no. 194)
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Hypocrisy is the homage which vice renders to virtue.
[Fr., L'hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend a la vertu.]
Topic: Hypocrisy
Source: Maximes (218)
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Some hypocrites and seeming mortified men, that held down their
heads, were like the little images that they place in the very
bowing of the vaults of churches, that look as if they held up
the church, but are but puppets.
Topic: Hypocrisy
Source: Maximes (218)
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In jealousy there is more self-love than love.
Topic: Jealousy
Source: Maxims (no. 334)
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We sometimes see a fool possessed of talent, but never of
judgment.
[Fr., On est quelquefois un sot avec de l'esprit; mais on ne
l'est jamais avec du jugement.]
Topic: Judgment
Source: Maximes (456)
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The accent of one's country dwells in the mind and in the heart
as much as in the language.
[Fr., L'accent du pays ou l'on est ne demeure dans l'esprit et
dans le coeur comme dans le langage.]
Topic: Language
Source: Maximes (342)
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Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.
Topic: Language
Source: Maximes (342)
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The world rewards the appearance of merit oftener than merit
itself.
[Fr., Le monde recompense plus souvent les apparences de merite
que le merite meme.]
Topic: Merit
Source: Maximes (166)
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There is a season for man's merit as well as for fruit.
[Fr., Le merite des hommes a sa saison aussi bien que les
fruits.]
Topic: Merit
Source: Maximes (291)
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There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation
without some merit.
[Fr., Il y a du merite sans elevation mais il n'y a point
d'elevation sans quelque merite.]
Topic: Merit
Source: Maximes (401)
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We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree
with us.
Topic: Opinion
Source: Maxims (347)
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The passions are the only orators that always persuade: they
are, as it were, a natural art, the rules of which are
infallible; and the simplest man with passion is more persuasive
than the most eloquent without it.
Topic: Oratory
Source: Maxims (no. 9)
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The only good copies are those which exhibit the defects of bad
originals.
Topic: Painting
Source: Maxims (no. 136)
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If we resist our passions it is more from their weakness than
from our strength.
Topic: Passion
Source: Maxims (no. 125)
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All the passions are nothing else than different degrees of heat
and cold of the blood.
[Fr., Toutes les passions ne sout autre chose que les divers
degres de la chaleur et de la froideur du sang.]
Topic: Passion
Source: Premier Supplement (VIII)
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A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
Topic: Praise
Source: Maxims (no. 152)
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That is fine, and I would have praised you more had you praised
me less.
[Fr., Cela est beau, et je vous louerais davantage si vous
m'aviez loue moins.]
Topic: Praise
Source: Maxims (no. 152)
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Men are more satirical from vanity than from malice.
Topic: Satire
Source: Maxims (no. 508)
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How can we expect another to keep our secret if we cannot keep it
ourselves.
Topic: Secrecy
Source: Maxims (no. 90)
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We say little if not egged on by vanity.
[Fr., On parle peu quand la vanite ne fait pas parler.]
Topic: Vanity
Source: Maximes (137)
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That which makes the vanity of others unbearable to us is that
which wounds our own.
[Fr., Ce qui nous rend la vanite des autres insupportable, c'est
qu'elle blesse la notre.]
Topic: Vanity
Source: Maximes (389)
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We do not despise all those who have vices, but we despise all
those who have not a single virtue.
Topic: Vice
Source: Maxims (no. 195)
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It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold,
than of the office which one fills.
[Fr., Il est plus facile de paraitre digne des emplois qu'on n'a
pas que de ceux que l'on exerce.]
Topic: Worth
Source: Maximes (164)
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