The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
Interpretation
Good advice often comes from those who have learned from their mistakes over time.
This quote by Francois De La Rochefoucauld suggests that individuals who have lived long enough have likely made their share of mistakes and learned valuable lessons from them. Thus, their advice is rooted in experience rather than theoretical knowledge, and it serves to steer others away from the errors they themselves have made.
In practice
During a graduation speech, one could quote this to emphasize the importance of learning from life experiences.
The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
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.
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
Age helps one to acquire some of the perspectives necessary to create harmony among apparent contradictions.
Each night the black sky and the bright stars were my stunning companions; occasionally Id see their beauty and solemnity so plainly that I'd realize in a piercing way that my mother was right. That someday I WOULD be grateful and that in fact I was grateful now, that I felt something growing in me that was strong and real.
The close and thoughtful observer more and more learns to recognize his limitations. He realizes that with the steady growth of knowledge more and more new problems keep on emerging.
The moment you become miserly you are closed to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing. The moment you start clinging to things, you have missed the target--you have missed. Because things are not the target, you, your innermost being, is the target--not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you; not much money, but a rich you; not many things, but an open being, available to millions of things.
Would you rather live your life according to the approval of others or aligned with your truth and your dreams?
It is his restraint that is honorable to a person, not their liberty.
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