The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People present themselves in different ways, sometimes hiding their true nature.
This quote by Francois De La Rochefoucauld suggests that just as buildings have exteriors that can be appealing or unappealing, so too do people have outward personalities that may not reflect their true selves. The comparison highlights the complexity of human nature and the façades individuals create to navigate social interactions.
Themes
PersonalityFacadeHuman NatureAppearanceTruth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about mental health to emphasize understanding people beyond their surface.
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
No system of regulation can safely be substituted for the operation of individual liberty as expressed in competition.
Louis D. BrandeisRead
Theories that go counter to the facts of human nature are foredoomed.
Edith HamiltonRead
I am only 8 years old, I told myself. No little boy of 8 has ever murdered anyone. It's not possible.
Roald DahlRead
It would be so much better if we could share our insecurity, if we could all venture inside ourselves and realize that green beans and vitamin C, however much they nurture us, cannot save lives, or sustain our souls.
Muriel BarberyRead
We raise our voices in holy gladness to celebrate the victory of the risen Christ over the terrible forces of death.
Nelson MandelaRead
I do not know if you remember the tale of the girl who saves the ship under mutiny by sitting on the powder barrel with her lighted torch... and all the time knowing that it is empty? This has seemed to me a charming image of the women of my time. There they were, keeping the world in order... by sitting on the mystery of life, and knowing themselves that there was no mystery.
Isak DinesenRead