The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Weakness can lead to betrayal more than careful planning can.
This quote suggests that human frailty or moral weakness is a common cause of betrayal, rather than intentional malice or premeditated deceit. It emphasizes that individuals may act treacherously not out of a deliberate plan, but due to vulnerabilities or failures in character that drive them to such actions.
Themes
BetrayalWeaknessHuman NaturePhilosophyTreachery
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about ethics in business.
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.
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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.
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To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
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