François de La Rochefoucauld
“True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.”
“To say that one never errs is to say that one never does anything.”
“We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.”
“Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and fans the bonfire.”
“If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others.”
“Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.”
“We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.”
“Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.”