The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how our actions are often attributed to luck, affecting the perception of their success or failures.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld suggests that the outcomes of our actions are influenced by luck, represented by 'lucky and unlucky stars'. He implies that both praise and blame for our actions often stem from this unpredictable element of fortune, rather than solely from the actions themselves. This highlights the complexity of evaluating success and failure, as much can depend on factors beyond our control.
Themes
LuckActionsDestinyFortuneBlameCommendation
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about decision-making in business, one might say, 'As Francois De La Rochefoucauld remarked, our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars.'
More from Francois De La Rochefoucauld
All quotes βOld men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Similar quotes
Indeed, at hearing the news that 'the old god is dead', we philosophers and 'free spirits' feel illuminated by a new dawn; our heart overflows with gratitude, amazement, forebodings, expectation - finally the horizon seems clear again, even if not bright; finally our ships may set out again, set out to face any danger; every daring of the lover of knowledge is allowed again; the sea, our sea, lies open again; maybe there has never been such an 'open sea'.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
It has been said that the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives. The choices we make determine our destiny.
Thomas S. MonsonRead
We deal five minutes with a person and their conversion and then we spend the next fifty years trying to disciple a goat into a sheep. I'm not saying this because I'm angry. I'm saying this because countless people are being deceived.
Paul WasherRead
I turn to history not for lessons but to confront my experience with the experience of others and to win for myself a sense of responsibility for the state of the human conscience.
Zbigniew HerbertRead
There is no real evil in life, except great pain; all the rest is imaginary, and depends on the light in which we view things
Marie De Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise De SevigneRead
Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead