Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

'We all have strength enough to bear the misfortunes of others.' In some five hundred short maxims, François de La Rochefoucauld strips the masks from human behaviour to show self-love, amour-propre, hidden behind almost every virtue: our generosity is often vanity, our humility a way of being praised, our gratitude a hope of future favours. 'Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.'

La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680), a French nobleman who had fought and plotted against Cardinal Mazarin in the civil wars of the Fronde, polished his maxims in the literary salons of Paris and published them in 1665. Witty, cynical and exact, they influenced moralists from Voltaire to Nietzsche. This translation is by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell. Compare Pascal's Pensées.