The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
Interpretation
Rejecting praise often indicates a deeper desire for affirmation and recognition.
This quote suggests that when someone refuses praise, it may not simply be an act of humility; rather, it could reflect an underlying wish for validation and acknowledgment. The refusal itself can be a way to elicit further praise, highlighting the complex nature of human motivations and the dynamics of social interactions.
In practice
During a speech, someone might quote this to address the nature of humility in leadership.
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.
Men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the 'culture of waste.' If a computer breaks it is a tragedy, but poverty, the needs and dramas of so many people end up being considered normal. ... When the stock market drops 10 points in some cities, it constitutes a tragedy. Someone who dies is not news, but lowering income by 10 points is a tragedy! In this way people are thrown aside as if they were trash.
The way I work, the interview never becomes larger than the person being interviewed.
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.
Economics make homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.
A fully functional multiracial society cannot be achieved without a sense of history and open, honest dialogue.
I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.