The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Pride prevents us from accepting help, while vanity keeps us from offering it.
This quote by Francois De La Rochefoucauld highlights the complexities of human emotions and social interactions, emphasizing that pride can obstruct our ability to accept assistance from others, while vanity can inhibit us from reciprocating and offering help. It speaks to the idea that our ego can create barriers in relationships, ultimately undermining both our capacity to receive and to give support.
Themes
PrideVanityEgoHumilityRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a leadership conference might use this quote to illustrate the importance of humility in teamwork.
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
All experiment is made on a basis of tradition; all tradition is the crystallization of experiment.
Louis MacneiceRead
It is absolutely impossible to transcend the laws of nature. What can change in historically different circumstances is only the form in which these laws expose themselves.
Karl MarxRead
Neurotic identity crises come when our defense mechanisms have been too successful and we're encapsulated in the fortress we have constructed with nothing to refresh us in our solitary confinement. So we play the old movies with their stale fears and their unrealistic hopes until we become bored enough to risk disarmament and engagement.
Sam KeenRead
After all, if freedom of speech means anything, it means a willingness to stand and let people say things with which we disagree, and which do weary us considerably.
Zechariah ChafeeRead
I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
Personal purity isnβt really the issue. Not supporting animal abuse β and persuading others not to support it β is.
Peter SingerRead