The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
We would rather see those to whom we do good, than those who do good to us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights a preference for understanding and valuing the impact of our own actions rather than focusing on the benefits we receive from others.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld's quote emphasizes the importance of altruism and selflessness in human interactions. It suggests that people find greater fulfillment in observing the positive effects they have on others rather than being preoccupied with the good that is done for them. This perspective encourages a focus on giving, compassion, and the profound joy that comes from contributing to the well-being of others.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of serving others.
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.
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.
Similar quotes
Our knowledge springs from two fundamental sources of the mind; the first is the capacity of receiving representations (receptivity for impressions), the second is the power of knowing an object through these representations (spontaneity [in the production] of concepts).
Without transformation, you can assume you're at a high moral, spiritual level just because you call yourself Lutheran or Methodist or Catholic. I think my great disappointment as a priest has been to see how little actual spiritual curiosity there is in so many people.
Off to one side sits a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him-and so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.
The journey is better than the inn".
I like to think that when I fall, A rain-drop in Death's shoreless sea, This shelf of books along the wall, Beside my bed, will mourn for me.
Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe. They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.