The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.
Interpretation
Our best actions may have hidden motives that could evoke shame if exposed.
This quote suggests that while we may strive to act virtuously, the underlying motivations that drive our best actions can sometimes be less noble or more self-serving than we would like to admit. It challenges us to reflect on the true intentions behind our deeds and the potential discrepancy between our public persona and private motives.
In practice
In a discussion about ethics, this quote could highlight the complexity of human behavior.
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.
I like to remember things my own way. How I remembered them, not necessarily the way they happened.
Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
There is no partial sensitivity; either it is the state of one's whole being, total consciousness or it is not there at all
To truth only a brief celebration of victory is allowed between the two long periods during which it is condemned as paradoxical, or disparaged as trivial.
I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it.
To each individual the world will take on a different connotation of meaning-the important lies in the desire to search for an answer.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.