The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often speak ill of others out of pride rather than out of genuine hostility.
This quote suggests that individuals tend to criticize others not necessarily out of a malicious intent but rather from a place of vanity and self-importance. It highlights the human tendency to belittle others to elevate one's own status or image, indicating that our motivations in discussing others can be deeply rooted in our own insecurities and ego rather than honest dislike.
Themes
VanitySlanderMaliceCriticismEgo
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote to discuss the nature of gossip during a social gathering.
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
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
William ShakespeareRead
Our life is what our thoughts make it.
Marcus AureliusRead
I think life is difficult and that's that. I am not at all - absolutely not at all - interested in the pursuit of happiness. I am not interested in the pursuit of positivity. I am interested in pursuing a truth, and the truth often seems to be not happiness but its opposite.
Jamaica KincaidRead
If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
James ThurberRead
To see God is the one goal. Power is not the goal.
Swami VivekanandaRead
Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.
Marian Wright EdelmanRead