Maxims of La Rochefoucauld:

• “Jealousy is in some sort rational and just; since it only aims at the Preservation of a Good which belongs, or which we think belongs, to us: Whereas Envy is a Frenzy that cannot bear the Good of others.”
• “Good Sense should be the Test of all Rules, both ancient and modern; whatever is incompatible therewith is false.”
• “Avarice is more opposite to Economy than Liberality.”
• “We ought to be able to answer for our Fortune, to be able to answer for what we shall do.”
• “The most violent Passions have their Intermissions; Vanity only gives us no Respite.”
• “‘Tis more difficult to conceal the Sensations we have, than to feign those we have not.”
• “We should have but little Pleasure were we never to flatter ourselves.”
• “We love much better those, who endeavour to imitate us, than those who strive to equal us. For Imitation is a Sign of Esteem, but Competition of Envy.”
• “Whatever Difference may appear in Men’s Fortunes, there is nevertheless a certain Compensation of Good and Ill that makes all equal.”

And “The common Foible of old People who have been handsome, is to forget that they are no longer so.”