Luc De Clapiers Quotes

There are many things we despise in order that we may not have to despise ourselves.

What we call a brilliant thought is usually just a captivating expression which, with the help of a little truth, imposes a surprising error on us.

Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts.

Virtue is so praiseworthy that wicked people practise it from self-interest.

To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.

Action makes more fortune than caution.

There does not exist a man sufficiently intelligent never to be tiresome

The lazy are always wanting to do something.

Whatever affection we have for our friends or relations, the happiness of others never suffices for our own.

Some authors regard morality in the same light as we regard modern architecture. Convenience is the first thing to be looked for.

Най-ненавистният вид неблагодарност, но същевременно и най-обикновената и най-изконна е неблагодарността на децата към родителите.

However we may be reproached for our vanity we sometimes need to be assured of our merits and to have our most obvious advantages pointed out to us.

Je désirerais de tout mon coeur que toutes les conditions fussent égales ; j’aimerais beaucoup mieux n’avoir point d’inférieurs, que de reconnaître un seul homme au-dessus de moi Rien n’est si spécieux, dans la spéculation, que l’égalité ; mais rien n’est plus impraticable et plus chimérique.

Ceux qui combattent les préjugés du peuple croient n’être pas peuple : un homme qui avait fait à Rome un argument contre les poulets sacrés, se regardait peut-être comme un philosophe ; mais les vrais philosophes se moquaient d’un fou qui attaquait inutilement les opinions du peuple, et César, qui, probablement, ne croyait pas aux aruspices, ne laissa pas d’en faire un traité

The passions have taught reason to man. In the infancy of all peoples, as in that of individuals, feeling has always preceded reflection and has been its first master

There are vices which do not exclude great qualities, and consequently there are great qualities which stand apart from virtue. I recognize this truth with sorrow....(But) those who wish men to be altogether good or altogether evil do not know nature. In men all is mixed; everything there is limited; and even vice has its limits

The passions have taught reason to man

It is easier to say new things than to reconcile what has already been said.

Reason misleads us more often than nature

Great thoughts spring from the heart

We pay dearly for the smallest goods, when we only get them from reason.

None are more prone to error than those who act only on reflection

The falsest of all philosophies is that which, under pretext of freeing mankind from the toils of passion, counsels indifference, resignation and self-forgetfulness

Conscience is commanding in the strong, timid in the weak and the unhappy, restless in the undecided. It is a faculty which obeys our dominant feelings and ruling opinions

The mind is the soul's eye, not its source of power. That lies in the heart, in other words in the passions. The most enlightened judgement does not give rise to action or desire. Is good sight enough to enable us to walk? Must we not also have feet, and the will and power to move them?

We achieve few great things by deliberation

There is perhaps no truth, which is not a cause of error to some misguided mind

Many well-grounded hopes and fears are disappointed

Hope inspires the wise, and deludes the presumptuous and the idle, who rely blindly on its promises