1. To justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often admit that we are powerless to achieve something; in reality we are not powerless, but weak-willed

2. As a rule, it is not kindness, but pride that forces us to read instructions to people who have committed actions; We reproach them not even in order to correct them, but only in order to convince them of our own infallibility

3. Those who are overzealous in small things usually become incapable of great things.

4. We lack the strength of character to obediently follow all the dictates of reason.

5. What makes us happy is not what surrounds us, but our attitude towards it, and we feel happy when we have what we ourselves love, and not what others think worthy of love

6. No matter how proud people are of their achievements, the latter are often the result not of great plans, but of ordinary chance

7. A person’s happiness and unhappiness depend not only on his fate, but on his character

8. Grace is to the body what sanity is to the mind.

9. Even the most skillful pretense will not help you hide love for long when it is there, or pretend it when it is not.

10. If you judge love by its usual manifestations, it looks more like enmity than friendship.

11. No person, having stopped loving, can avoid feeling shame for past love.

12. Love brings people as many benefits as it brings misfortunes

13. Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.

14. People could not live in society if they did not have the opportunity to fool each other by the nose

15. Those who have managed to earn the praise of their envious people are endowed with truly extraordinary qualities.

16. With such generosity as we give out advice, we give out nothing else.

17. The more we love a woman, the more we tend to hate her.

18. By pretending that we have fallen into a trap prepared for us, we are showing truly refined cunning, since it is easiest to deceive a person when he wants to deceive you

19. It is much easier to show wisdom in other people's affairs than in your own

20. It’s easier for us to control people than to stop them from controlling us.

21. Nature endows us with virtues, and fate helps us manifest them.

22. There are people who are repulsive despite all their advantages, and there are people who are attractive despite their shortcomings.

23. Flattery is a counterfeit coin that circulates only because of our vanity.

24. It is not enough to have many virtues - it is important to be able to use them

25. Decent people they respect us for our virtues, but the crowd respects us for the favor of fate

26. Society often rewards the appearance of virtues rather than the virtues themselves.

27. It would be much more useful to use all the powers of our mind to cope with the misfortunes that befall us with dignity than to predict the misfortunes that may yet happen

28. The desire for glory, the fear of shame, the pursuit of wealth, the desire to make life as comfortable and pleasant as possible, the desire to humiliate others - this is what often underlies the valor so praised by people

29. The highest virtue is to do something alone, but which people decide only in the presence of many witnesses.

30. Only that person who has the strength of character to sometimes be evil is worthy of praise for kindness; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will

31. In most cases, doing evil to people is not as dangerous as doing them too much good.

32. Most often, those people who are a burden to others are those who believe that they are not a burden to anyone.

33. A real trickster is one who knows how to hide his own cleverness

34. Generosity neglects everything in order to take possession of everything

36. True eloquence is the ability to say everything you need and no more than you need

37. Every person, no matter who he is, tries to put on such an appearance and put on such a mask so that he is mistaken for who he wants to appear to be; Therefore, we can say that society consists only of masks

38. Majesty is a cunning trick of the body, invented in order to hide the shortcomings of the mind.

39. So-called generosity is usually based on vanity, which is dearer to us than everything we give

40. The reason people so readily believe bad things without trying to understand the essence is because they are vain and lazy. They want to find the guilty, but they do not want to bother themselves with analyzing the offense committed.

41. No matter how perspicacious a person is, it is not possible for him to comprehend all the evil that he creates

42. Sometimes a lie pretends to be the truth so cleverly that not to succumb to deception would mean betraying common sense

43. Ostentatious simplicity is subtle hypocrisy

44. It can be argued that human characters, like some buildings, have several facades, and not all of them have a pleasant appearance

45. We rarely understand what we really want.

46. ​​The gratitude of most people is caused by a secret desire to achieve even greater benefits.

47. Almost all people pay for small favors, most are grateful for minor ones, but almost no one feels grateful for large ones.

48. No matter what praise we hear addressed to ourselves, we do not find anything new in them for ourselves.

49. We often treat those who are a burden to us condescendingly, but we are never condescending to those to whom we ourselves are a burden

50. It is just as reasonable to extol your virtues to yourself as it is stupid to boast about them in front of others.

51. There are situations in life that you can get out of only with the help of a considerable amount of recklessness

52. What is the reason that we remember in every detail what happened to us, but are not able to remember how many times we told the same person about it?

53. The enormous pleasure with which we talk about ourselves should instill in our souls the suspicion that our interlocutors do not share it at all

54. By admitting to minor shortcomings, we thereby try to convince society that we do not have more significant ones.

55. To become a great man, you need to be able to deftly use the chance that fate offers

56. We consider only those people who agree with us on everything to be sane.

57. Many disadvantages, if used skillfully, shine brighter than any advantages.

58. People of small minds are sensitive to petty insults; people of great intelligence notice everything and are not offended by anything

59. No matter how distrustful we may be of our interlocutors, it still seems to us that they are more sincere with us than with others

60. Cowards, as a rule, are unable to assess the strength of their own fear.

61. Young people usually think that their behavior is natural, while in fact they are behaving rudely and ill-mannered.

62. People of shallow minds often discuss everything that goes beyond their understanding

63. True friendship knows no envy, but true love– coquetry

64. You can give good advice to your neighbor, but you cannot teach him reasonable behavior.

65. Everything that ceases to work out ceases to interest us

67. If vanity does not completely destroy all our virtues, then, in any case, it shakes them

68. It is often easier to endure deception than to hear the whole truth about yourself.

69. Majesty is not always inherent in virtues, but majesty is always characterized by some virtues

70. Majesty suits virtue just as precious jewelry suits a beautiful woman.

71. Those older women who remember that they were once attractive, but have forgotten that they have long since lost their former beauty, find themselves in the most ridiculous situation.

72. For your very best noble deeds we would often have to blush if others knew about our motives

73. Someone who is smart in one way is not able to please for a long time

74. The mind usually serves us only to boldly do stupid things

75. Both the charm of novelty and long habit, despite all the opposite, equally prevent us from seeing the shortcomings of our friends

76. A woman in love would rather forgive a major indiscretion than a small infidelity

77. Nothing hinders naturalness more than the desire to appear natural.

78. To sincerely praise good deeds means to take part in them to some extent.

79. The surest sign of high virtues is not to know envy from birth

80. It is easier to know people in general than one person in particular.

81. A person’s merits should not be judged by his good qualities, but by the way he uses them

82. Sometimes we are too grateful, sometimes paying off our friends for the good they have done to us, we still leave them in our debt

83. We would have very few passionate desires if we knew exactly what we want.

84. Both in love and in friendship, we are more often given pleasure by what we do not know than by what we know.

85. We try to take credit for those shortcomings that we do not want to correct.

87. In serious matters, one must care not so much about creating favorable opportunities, but about not missing them

88. What our enemies think of us is closer to the truth than our own opinion

89. We have no idea what our passions can push us to.

90. Sympathy for enemies in trouble is most often caused not so much by kindness as by vanity: we sympathize with them in order to show our superiority over them

91. Great talents often come from flaws.

92. No one’s imagination is capable of coming up with such a multitude of contradictory feelings that usually coexist in one human heart

93. Only people with a strong character can show true gentleness: for the rest, their apparent softness is, as a rule, ordinary weakness, which easily becomes embitterment

94. The peace of our soul or its confusion depends not so much on important events our life, how much depends on the successful or unpleasant combination of everyday trifles for us

95. A not too broad mind, but a sound one, as a result, is not so tiring for the interlocutor than a broad, but confused mind

96. There are reasons why one can abhor life, but one cannot despise death.

97. We shouldn’t think that death will seem the same to us up close as we saw it from afar.

98. The mind is too weak for us to rely on when facing death.

99. The talents with which God has endowed people are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and unique fruits. Therefore, the best pear tree will not give birth to even crappy apples, but the best talented person gives in to a task that, although mediocre, is given only to those who are capable of this task. For this reason, composing aphorisms when you do not have at least a little talent for this activity is no less ridiculous than expecting tulips to bloom in a garden bed where no bulbs are planted.

100. We are therefore ready to believe any stories about the shortcomings of our neighbors, because it is easiest to believe what we want

101. Hope and fear are inseparable: fear is always full of hope, hope is always full of fear

102. We should not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves.

103. The end of good marks the beginning of evil, and the end of evil marks the beginning of good

104. Philosophers condemn wealth only because we manage it poorly. It depends on us alone how to acquire it, how to put it to use, without serving vice. Instead of using wealth to support and feed evil deeds, as firewood feeds a fire, we could give it to the service of virtues, thereby giving them both shine and attractiveness

105. The collapse of all a person’s hopes is pleasant for everyone: both his friends and his enemies.

106. Having become completely bored, we stop being bored

107. Only those who do not tell anyone about it expose themselves to true self-flagellation; otherwise everything is made easier by vanity

108. wise man happy, content with little, but for a fool nothing is enough: that’s why all people are unhappy

109. A clear mind gives to the soul what health gives to the body

110. Lovers begin to see the shortcomings of their mistresses only when their feelings come to an end.

111. Prudence and love are not made for each other: as love increases, prudence decreases

112. A wise person understands that it is better to ban a hobby than to fight it later

113. It is much more useful to study not books, but people

114. As a rule, happiness finds the happy, and misfortune finds the unhappy

115. He who loves too much does not notice for a long time that he himself is no longer loved.

116. We scold ourselves only so that someone will praise us

117. Hiding our true feelings is much more difficult than portraying non-existent ones.

118. The one who doesn’t like anyone is much more unhappy than the one who doesn’t like anyone

119. A person who realizes what troubles could befall him is thereby already to some extent happy

120. Anyone who has not found peace in himself cannot find it anywhere

121. A person is never as unhappy as he would like.

122. It is not in our will to fall in love or fall out of love, therefore neither a lover has the right to complain about the frivolity of his mistress, nor does she have the right to complain about inconstancy

123. When we stop loving, it gives us joy that they cheat on us, since thereby we are freed from the need to remain faithful

124. In the failures of our close friends we find something even pleasant for ourselves

125. Having lost hope of discovering intelligence in those around us, we ourselves no longer try to preserve it.

126. No one hurries others like lazy people: having gratified their own laziness, they want to appear diligent

127. We have as much reason to complain about people who help us to know ourselves as an Athenian madman to complain about the doctor who cured him of the false belief that he is a rich man

128. Our self-love is such that no flatterer can outdo it.

129. The same thing can be said about all our virtues as a certain Italian poet once said about decent women: most often they simply skillfully pretend to be decent

130. We admit to our own vices only under the pressure of vanity

131. Rich funeral rites do not so much perpetuate the dignity of the dead as they appease the vanity of the living

132. To organize a conspiracy, you need unshakable courage, and to steadfastly endure the dangers of war, ordinary courage is enough

133. A man who has never been in danger cannot be responsible for his own courage

134. People find it much easier to limit their gratitude than their hopes and desires.

135. Imitation is always unbearable, and a fake is unpleasant to us for the very features that are so captivating in the original

136. The depth of our grief for lost friends is consistent not so much with their virtues as with our own need for these people, as well as how highly they valued our virtues

137. We find it difficult to believe in what lies beyond our horizons

138. Truth is the fundamental principle and essence of beauty and perfection; Only that which, having everything it ought to have, is truly such as it ought to be is beautiful and perfect.

139. It happens that beautiful works are more attractive when they are imperfect than when they are too finished

140. Generosity is a noble effort of pride, with the help of which a person masters himself, thereby mastering everything around him

141. Laziness is the most unpredictable of our passions. Despite the fact that its power over us is imperceptible, and the damage it causes is deeply hidden from our eyes, there is no passion more ardent and harmful. If we take a close look at her influence, we will be convinced that she invariably manages to take possession of all our feelings, desires and pleasures: she is like a stuck fish, stopping huge ships, like a dead calm, more dangerous for our most important affairs than any reefs and storms. In lazy peace the soul finds a secret delight, for the sake of which we instantly forget about our most ardent aspirations and our firmest intentions. Finally, to give a true idea of ​​this passion, we add that laziness is such a sweet peace of the soul that consoles it in all losses and replaces all blessings.

142. Everyone loves to study others, but no one likes to be studied

143. What a boring disease it is to protect your own health with too strict a regime!

144. Most women give up not because their passion is so strong, but because they are weak. This is the reason why enterprising men are always so successful, even though they are not the most attractive

145. The surest way to kindle passion in another is to keep the cold yourself

146. The height of sanity of the least sane people lies in the ability to meekly follow the reasonable orders of others

147. People strive to achieve worldly goods and pleasures at the expense of their neighbors

148. Most likely to get bored is the one who is convinced that he cannot bore anyone

149. It is unlikely that several people will have the same aspirations, but it is necessary that the aspirations of each of them do not contradict each other

150. All of us, with few exceptions, are afraid to appear before our neighbors as we really are.

151. We lose a lot by appropriating a manner that is alien to us

152. People try to appear different from what they really are, instead of becoming what they want to appear to be.

153. Many people are not only ready to abandon their inherent manner of behavior for the sake of one that they consider appropriate to the position and rank they have achieved, they, even just dreaming of elevation, begin to behave in advance as if they had already risen. How many colonels behave like marshals of France, how many judges pretend to be chancellors, how many townswomen play the role of duchesses!

154. People do not think about the words they listen to, but about those they are eager to utter

155. You need to talk about yourself and set yourself as an example as little as possible

156. He acts prudently who does not exhaust the subject of the conversation himself and gives others the opportunity to come up with something else and say something else

157. You need to talk to everyone about subjects close to them and only when it is appropriate

158. If saying the right word at the right moment is a great art, then remaining silent at the right time is an even greater art. Eloquent silence can sometimes express agreement and disapproval; Sometimes the silence is mocking, and sometimes it is respectful

159. People usually become outspoken out of vanity.

160. There are few secrets in the world that are kept forever

161. Great examples gave rise to a disgusting number of copies

162. Old people love to give good advice because they can no longer give bad examples

163. Our enemies' opinions about us are much closer to the truth than our own opinions

Gratitude is simply a secret hope for further approval.

As long as we strive to help people, we will rarely encounter ingratitude.

It is a small misfortune to serve an ungrateful person, but a great misfortune is to accept a service from a scoundrel.

God

As punishment for original sin, God allowed man to create an idol out of selfishness, so that it would torment him on all paths of life.

Wealth

There are quite a lot of people who despise wealth but give little of it away.

Disease

What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regime.

Talkativeness

Why do we remember in every detail what happened to us, but are unable to remember how many times we told the same person about it?

Petty minds have the gift of saying a lot and saying nothing.

Pain

Bodily pain is the only evil that reason can neither weaken nor heal.

Marriage

Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy.

Generosity

Magnanimity is the spirit of pride and the surest means of receiving praise.

Generosity is quite accurately defined by its name; Moreover, it can be said that it is the common sense of pride and the most worthy path to good fame.

Loyalty

Having ceased to love, we rejoice when they cheat on us, thereby freeing us from the need to remain faithful.

Possibilities

In serious matters, one should be concerned not so much with creating favorable opportunities as with not missing them.

Enemy

Our enemies are much closer to the truth in their judgments about us than we are ourselves.

Arrogance

Arrogance is, in essence, the same pride that loudly declares its presence.

Stupidity

There is nothing stupider than the desire to always be smarter than everyone else.

There are no more intolerable fools than those who are not entirely devoid of intelligence.

Pride

Pride is common to all people; the only difference is how and when they manifest it.

Pride always recovers its losses and loses nothing even when it gives up vanity.

Pride does not want to be a debtor, and pride does not want to pay.

Pride, having played human comedy all the roles in a row and as if tired of his tricks and transformations, he suddenly appears with an open face, arrogantly tearing off his mask.

If we were not overcome by pride, we would not complain about the pride of others.

It is not kindness, but pride that usually prompts us to admonish people who have committed wrongdoings.

The most dangerous consequence of pride is blindness: it supports and strengthens it, preventing us from finding means that would ease our sorrows and help us heal from vices.

Pride has a thousand faces, but the most subtle and the most deceptive of them is humility.

State

Luxury and excessive sophistication predict certain death for the state, because they indicate that all private individuals care only about their own good, without caring at all about the public good.

Valor

The highest virtue is to do in solitude what people usually dare to do only in the presence of many witnesses.

The highest valor and insurmountable cowardice are extremes that are very rare. Between them, in a vast space, lie all sorts of shades of courage, as varied as human faces and characters. the fear of death to some extent limits valor.

The highest virtue is to do in solitude what people dare to do only in the presence of many witnesses.

For simple soldier valor is a dangerous craft that he undertakes to earn food for himself.

Good

Everyone praises their kindness, but no one dares to praise their intelligence.

Where the end of good is, there is the beginning of evil, and where the end of evil is, there is the beginning of good.

Only the person who has the strength of character to sometimes be evil is worthy of praise for kindness; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will.

Duty

Everyone looks at his debt as an annoying overlord from whom he would like to get rid of.

Dignity

The evil we do brings upon us less hatred and persecution than our virtues.

The surest sign of innate high virtues is the absence of innate envy.

Friend

It is more shameful not to trust friends than to be deceived by them.

Not noticing the cooling of friends means valuing their friendship little.

Appreciate not what good your friend does, but appreciate his willingness to do good to you.

Friendship

The heat of friendship warms the heart without burning it.

We are so fickle in friendship because it is difficult to know the properties of a person’s soul and easy to know the properties of the mind.

Soul

Love for the soul of the lover means the same as the soul means for the body that it spiritualizes.

Pity

Pity is nothing more than a shrewd anticipation of disasters that could befall us.

Wish

A far-sighted person must determine a place for each of his desires and then implement them in order. Our greed often disrupts this order and forces us to pursue so many goals at the same time that in the pursuit of trifles we miss the essential.

We are afraid of everything, as mortals should be, and we want everything, as if we had been awarded immortality.

Before you strongly desire something, you should inquire whether the current owner of what you want is very happy.

Women

Women can overcome their passion rather than their coquetry.

There are many women in the world who have never had a single love affair in their lives, but there are very few who have only had one.

A woman in love is more likely to forgive a large indiscretion than a small infidelity.

Life

There are situations in life from which you can only get out of it with a fair amount of recklessness.

Moderation in life is similar to abstinence in food: I would eat more, but I’m afraid of getting sick.

Envy

They envy only those with whom they do not hope to be equal.

Our envy always lives longer than the happiness we envy.

Envy is even more incomparable than hatred.

Health

What a boring disease it is to protect your health with an overly strict regime!

Gold

The misconception of the stingy is that they consider gold and silver to be goods, when they are only means for acquiring goods.

Sincerity

The desire to talk about ourselves and show our shortcomings only from the side from which it is most beneficial for us is the main reason for our sincerity.

True

The truth is not as beneficial as its appearance is harmful.

Flattery

No flatterer flatters as skillfully as self-love.

Hypocrisy

Pride never acts as a hypocrite so skillfully as when hiding under the guise of humility.

Dexterity

The highest skill is to know the true price of everything.

Lie

Behind the aversion to lying is often hidden a hidden desire to give weight to our statements and to inspire reverent confidence in our words.

Love

As long as we love, we know how to forgive.

True love is like a ghost: everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.

No matter how pleasant love is, its external manifestations still give us more joy than love itself.

There is only one love, but there are thousands of counterfeits.

Love, like fire, knows no rest: it ceases to live as soon as it ceases to hope and fear.

Love covers with its name the most diverse human relations, as if connected with her, although in fact she participates in them no more than rain in the events taking place in Venice.

Many would never fall in love if they had not heard about love.

It is equally difficult to please both someone who loves very much and someone who no longer loves at all.

The one who is cured of love first is always cured more completely.

People

Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.

There are people with merits, but disgusting, while others, although with shortcomings, are sympathetic.

There are people who are destined to be fools: they do stupid things not only because at will, but also by the will of fate.

Truly clever people pretend all their lives that they abhor cunning, but in fact they simply reserve it for exceptional cases that promise exceptional benefits.

Only people with a strong character can be truly soft: for others, apparent softness is in reality just weakness, which easily turns into grumpiness.

No matter how much people boast of the greatness of their deeds, the latter are often the result not of great plans, but simply by chance.

When people love, they forgive.

People who believe in their own merits consider it their duty to be unhappy in order to convince others and themselves that fate has not yet rewarded them what they deserve.

People sometimes call friendship spending time together, mutual assistance in business, and exchange of services. In a word - a relationship where selfishness hopes to gain something.

People could not live in society if they did not lead each other by the nose.

People not only forget benefits and insults, but even tend to hate their benefactors and forgive offenders.

People often boast of the most criminal passions, but no one dares to admit to envy, a timid and bashful passion.

Human affection has the peculiarity of changing with changes in happiness.

Human quarrels would not last so long if all the blame were on one side.

A wise man is happy, content with little, but for a fool nothing is enough; that's why almost all people are unhappy.

Sometimes revolutions take place in society that change both its destinies and the tastes of people.

What people call virtue is usually only a ghost created by their desires and bearing such a high name so that they can follow their desires with impunity.

Moderation happy people stems from the peace of mind bestowed by unfailing good fortune.

Although the destinies of people are very different, a certain balance in the distribution of goods and misfortunes seems to equalize them among themselves.

World

The world is ruled by fate and whim.

Youth

Young people change their tastes due to hot blood, but the old man retains his due to habit.

Young men often think that they are natural, when in fact they are simply ill-mannered and rude.

Silence

If great art is required to speak out at the right time, then no small art lies in remaining silent at the right time.

For those who do not trust themselves, the wisest thing to do is to remain silent.

Wisdom

Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body.

It is much easier to show wisdom in the affairs of others than in your own.

Hope

The collapse of all a person's hopes is pleasant to both his friends and his enemies.

Flaws

IN everyday life Our shortcomings sometimes seem more attractive than our advantages.

Impotence is the only flaw that cannot be corrected.

Majesty is an incomprehensible quality of the body, invented in order to hide the lack of intelligence.

Feigned importance is a special manner of behaving, invented for the benefit of those who have to hide their lack of intelligence.

If we didn’t have shortcomings, we wouldn’t be so pleased to notice them in our neighbors.

Misfortune

The secret pleasure of knowing that people see how unhappy we are often reconciles us with our misfortunes.

Deception

With our mistrust we justify the deception of others.

Condemnation

We love to judge people for the same things they judge us for.

Peace

Peace cannot be found anywhere for those who have not found it in themselves.

Submission

The highest sanity of the least sane people consists in the ability to obediently follow the reasonable instructions of others.

Vices

Having several vices prevents us from giving in entirely to one of them.

Actions

Our actions seem to be born under a lucky or unlucky star; to her they owe most of the praise or blame that falls to their lot.

Is it true

We should not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves.

Betrayal

Betrayals are most often committed not out of deliberate intention, but out of weakness of character.

Habits

It is easier to neglect profit than to give up a whim.

Our whims are much more bizarre than the whims of fate.

Nature

The wind blows out the candle, but fans the fire.

Nature, in caring for our happiness, not only intelligently arranged the organs of our body, but also gave us pride, apparently in order to save us from the sad consciousness of our imperfection.

Conversations

It is never more difficult to speak well than when it is shameful to remain silent.

Parting

Separation weakens a slight infatuation, but intensifies a greater passion, just as the wind extinguishes a candle, but fans the fire.

Intelligence

What praises are not given to prudence! However, it is not able to protect us even from the most insignificant vicissitudes of fate.

Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.

Jealousy

Jealousy is to some extent reasonable and just, for it wants to preserve our property or what we consider to be such, while envy is blindly indignant at the fact that our neighbors also have some property.

Jealousy feeds on doubt; it dies or goes berserk as soon as doubt turns into certainty.

Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it.

Modesty

Modesty is the worst form of vanity

Death

Few people are given the ability to comprehend what death is; in most cases, people go for it not out of deliberate intention, but out of stupidity and established custom, and people most often die because they cannot resist death.

Neither the sun nor death should be looked at point-blank.

Laughter

It's better to laugh without being happy than to die without laughing.

You can give advice, but you cannot give the mind to use it.

Compassion

Most often, compassion is the ability to see our own in the misfortunes of others; it is a premonition of disasters that can befall us. We help people so that they in turn help us; Thus, our services are reduced simply to the benefits that we do to ourselves in advance.

Justice

The fairness of a moderate judge only testifies to his love for his high position.

For most people, the love of justice is simply the fear of being subjected to injustice.

The love of justice is born of the liveliest anxiety, lest someone take away our property from us; It is this that motivates people to so carefully protect the interests of their neighbors, to respect them so much, and to so diligently avoid unjust actions. This fear forces them to be content with the benefits granted to them by birthright or the whim of fate, and without it, they would constantly raid other people's possessions.

Stubbornness is born of the limitations of our mind: we are reluctant to believe what is beyond our horizons.

Philosophy

Philosophy triumphs over the sorrows of the past and future, but the sorrows of the present triumph over philosophy.

Character

We do not have enough strength of character to obediently follow all the dictates of reason.

Cunning

You can be more cunning than another, but you cannot be more cunning than everyone else.

Human

There is a continuous change of passions in the human heart, and the extinction of one of them almost always means the triumph of the other.

It is much easier to get to know a person in general than someone in particular.

No matter what advantages nature bestows on a person, she can create a hero out of him only by calling on fate to help.

Can a person say with confidence what he wants in the future if he is not able to understand what he wants now?

A man's merits should be judged not by his great merits, but by how he applies them.

Self-love is a person’s love for himself and for everything that constitutes his good.

A person is never as happy or as unhappy as he seems to himself.

A person who is incapable of committing a great crime finds it difficult to believe that others are fully capable of it.

Feelings

It is more difficult to hide our true feelings than to portray non-existent ones.

on other topics

Decency is the least important duty, and the most strictly observed of all others.

Only those who deserve it are afraid of contempt.

The thirst to deserve the praise lavished upon us strengthens our virtue; thus, praise of our intelligence, valor and beauty makes us smarter, more valiant and more beautiful.

Grace is to the body what common sense is to the mind.

We are usually driven to make new acquaintances not so much by fatigue from old ones or love of change, but by dissatisfaction that people we know well do not admire us enough, and the hope that people we don’t know much will admire us more.

He who is not capable of great things is scrupulous in detail.

Affectionateness often stems from a vain mind that seeks praise, rather than from a pure heart.

It is not enough to have outstanding qualities, you also need to be able to use them.

We scold ourselves only to be praised.

We are always afraid to show ourselves to the eyes of the one we love, after we happened to be dragged on the side.

Our pride suffers more when our tastes are criticized than when our views are condemned.

It is a mistake to believe that we can do without others, but it is even more mistaken to think that others could not do without us.

Truly dexterous is the one who knows how to hide his dexterity.

Praise is useful if only because it strengthens us in virtuous intentions.

Before we dedicate our hearts to achieving any goal, let us see how happy those who have already achieved that goal are.

The moderation of one whom fate favors is usually either the fear of being ridiculed for arrogance, or the fear of losing what has been acquired.

Moderation is the fear of envy or contempt, which become the lot of anyone who is blinded by his own happiness; this is vain boasting of the power of the mind.

To justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve our goals. In fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.

I want to eat and sleep.

An intelligent and cynical French duke - this is how La Rochefoucauld described him Somerset Maugham. Exquisite style, accuracy, brevity and severity in assessments, which is not indisputable for most readers, made La Rochefoucauld's Maxims perhaps the most famous and popular among collections of aphorisms. Their author went down in history as a subtle observer, clearly disappointed in life - although his biography evokes associations with the heroes of the novels of Alexandre Dumas. This romantic and adventurous aspect of him is now almost forgotten. But most researchers agree that the foundations of the duke’s gloomy philosophy lie precisely in his complex fate, full of adventures, misunderstandings and disappointed hopes.

Family tree

La Rochefoucauld is an ancient aristocratic family. This family dates back to the 11th century, from Foucault I Lord de Laroche, whose descendants still live in the family castle of La Rochefoucauld near Angoulême. Since ancient times, the eldest sons of this family served as advisers to the French kings. Many who bore this surname went down in history. Francois I La Rochefoucauld was the godfather of the French king Francis I. Francois III was one of the leaders of the Huguenots. Francois XII became the founder of the French Savings Bank and a friend of the great American natural scientist Benjamin Franklin.

Our hero was the sixth in the La Rochefoucauld family. François VI, Duke of La Rochefoucauld, Prince of Marcillac, Marquis de Guercheville, Comte de La Rocheguillon, Baron de Verteuil, Montignac and Cahuzac was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. His father, François V Comte de La Rochefoucauld, chief wardrobe master of Queen Marie de' Medici, was married to the no less eminent Gabrielle du Plessis-Liancourt. Soon after Francois was born, his mother took him to the Verteuil estate in Angoumois, where he spent his childhood. The father remained to pursue a career at court and, as it turned out, not in vain. Soon the queen granted him the post of lieutenant general of the province of Poitou and 45 thousand livres of income. Having received this position, he began to diligently fight the Protestants. All the more diligently because his father and grandfather were not Catholics. Francois III, one of the leaders of the Huguenots, died on St. Bartholomew's Night, and Francois IV was killed by members of the Catholic League in 1591. François V converted to Catholicism, and in 1620 he was awarded the title of Duke for his successful fight against the Protestants. True, until the parliament approved the patent, he was the so-called “temporary duke” - a duke by royal charter.

But even then, the ducal splendor already required large expenses. He spent so much money that his wife soon had to demand separate property.

Raising children - François had four brothers and seven sisters - was taken care of by his mother, while the Duke in his days short visits initiated them into the secrets of court life. From a young age, he instilled in his eldest son a sense of noble honor, as well as feudal loyalty to the house of Condé. La Rochefoucauld's vassal connection with this branch of the royal house has been preserved from the times when both were Huguenots.

Marcillac's education, common for a nobleman of the time, included grammar, mathematics, Latin, dancing, fencing, heraldry, etiquette and many other disciplines. Young Marcillac approached his studies like most boys, but he was extremely partial to novels. The beginning of the 17th century was a time of enormous popularity of this literary genre- chivalric, adventurous, pastoral novels were published in abundance. Their heroes - either valiant warriors or impeccable admirers - then served as ideals for noble young people.

When Francois was fourteen years old, his father decided to marry him to Andre de Vivonne, the second daughter and heiress (her sister died early) of the former chief falconer Andre de Vivonne.

Disgraced Colonel

In the same year, François received the rank of colonel in the Auvergne regiment and in 1629 took part in the Italian Campaigns - military operations in northern Italy that France carried out as part of the Thirty Years' War. Returning to Paris in 1631, he found the court much changed. After the “Day of the Fooled” in November 1630, when the Queen Mother Marie de Medici, who demanded Richelieu’s resignation and was already celebrating her victory, was soon forced to flee, many of her adherents, including the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, shared her disgrace. The Duke was removed from the government of the province of Poitou and exiled to his home near Blois. Francois himself, who, as the eldest son of the duke, bore the title of Prince of Marcillac, was allowed to remain at court. Many contemporaries reproached him for arrogance, since the title of prince in France was reserved only for princes of the blood and foreign princes.

In Paris, Marcillac began visiting the fashionable salon of Madame Rambouillet. Influential politicians, writers and poets, and aristocrats gathered in her famous “Blue Drawing Room”. Richelieu looked there, Paul de Gondi, the future Cardinal de Retz, and the future Marshal of France Comte de Guiche, the Princess of Condé with her children - the Duke of Enghien, who would soon become the Grand Conde, the Duchess of Longueville, then still Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and the Prince of Conti , and many others. The salon was the center of gallant culture - here all the latest literature was discussed and conversations were held about the nature of love. To be a regular at this salon meant to belong to the most refined society. The spirit of Marcillac's favorite novels was in the air here, and people tried to imitate their heroes.

Having inherited from his father hatred of Cardinal Richelieu, Marcillac began to serve Anne of Austria. The beautiful but unhappy queen perfectly corresponded to the image from the novel. Marcillac became her faithful knight, as well as the friend of her maid of honor, Mademoiselle D'Hautfort, and the famous Duchess de Chevreuse.

In the spring of 1635, the prince, on his own initiative, went to Flanders to fight the Spaniards. And upon his return, he learned that he and several other officers were not allowed to remain at court. The reason given was their disapproval of the French military campaign of 1635. A year later, Spain attacked France and Marcillac returned to the army.

After the successful completion of the campaign, he expected that he would now be allowed to return to Paris, but his hopes were not destined to be justified: “... I was forced to go to my father, who lived on his estate and was still in strict disgrace.” But, despite the ban on appearing in the capital, before leaving for the estate, he secretly paid a farewell visit to the queen. Anne of Austria, whom the king forbade even to correspond with Madame de Chevreuse, gave him a letter for the disgraced duchess, which Marcillac took to Touraine, the place of her exile.

Finally, in 1637, father and son were allowed to return to Paris. Parliament approved the ducal patent, and they had to arrive to complete all the formalities and take the oath. Their return coincided with the height of the scandal in royal family. In August of this year, a letter left by the queen to her brother, the king of Spain, with whom Louis XIII was still at war, was found in the Val-de-Grâce monastery. The Mother Superior, under threat of excommunication, told so much about the queen’s relationship with the hostile Spanish court that the king decided on an unheard-of measure - Anna of Austria was searched and interrogated. She was accused of high treason and secret correspondence with the Spanish ambassador, Marquis Mirabel. The king was even going to take advantage of this situation to divorce his childless wife (the future Louis XIV was born a year after these events in September 1638) and imprison her in Le Havre.

Things had gone so far that the thought of escaping arose. According to Marcillac, everything was ready for him to secretly take the queen and Mademoiselle D'Hautfort to Brussels. But the charges were dropped and such a scandalous escape did not take place. Then the prince volunteered to notify the Duchess de Chevreuse about everything that had happened. However, he was being followed , so his relatives categorically forbade him to see her. To get out of the situation, Marcillac asked the Englishman Count Craft, their mutual friend, to tell the duchess that she would send a faithful person to the prince, who could be notified about everything. and Marcillac went to his wife’s estate.

There was an agreement between Mademoiselle D'Hautefort and the Duchess de Chevreuse on an urgent warning system. La Rochefoucauld mentions two books of hours - in green and red bindings. One of them meant that things were going for the better, the other was a danger signal. It is not known who mixed up the symbolism, but, having received the book of hours, the Duchess de Chevreuse, considering that everything was lost, decided to flee to Spain and left the country in a hurry. Driving past Verteuil, the family estate of La Rochefoucauld, she asked the prince for help. But he, having listened to the voice of prudence for the second time, limited himself to only giving her fresh horses and people who accompanied her to the border. But when this became known in Paris, Marcillac was summoned for questioning and was soon taken to prison. Thanks to the petitions of his parents and friends, he stayed in the Bastille for only a week. And after his release, he was forced to return to Vertey. In exile, Marcillac spent many hours studying the works of historians and philosophers, expanding his education.

In 1639, the war began and the prince was allowed to go to the army. He distinguished himself in several battles, and at the end of the campaign, Richelieu even offered him the rank of major general, promising a brilliant future in his service. But at the request of the queen, he abandoned all the promised prospects and returned to his estate.

Court games

In 1642, preparations began for a conspiracy against Richelieu, organized by the favorite of Louis XIII, Saint-Mars. He negotiated with Spain to help overthrow the cardinal and make peace. Anna of Austria and the king's brother, Gaston of Orleans, were privy to the details of the conspiracy. Marcillac was not among its participants, but de Thou, one of Saint-Mars' close friends, turned to him for help on behalf of the queen. The prince resisted. The conspiracy failed, and its main participants - Saint-Mars and de Thou - were executed.

On December 4, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died, followed by Louis XIII. Having learned about this, Marcillac, like many other disgraced nobles, went to Paris. Mademoiselle D'Hautefort also returned to the court, the Duchess de Chevreuse arrived from Spain. Now they were all counting on the queen's special mercy. However, very soon they discovered a new favorite near Anna of Austria - Cardinal Mazarin, whose position, contrary to the expectations of many, turned out to be quite strong.

Stung to the core by this, the Duchess de Chevreuse, the Duke of Beaufort and other aristocrats, as well as some parliamentarians and prelates, united to overthrow Mazarin, forming a new, so-called “conspiracy of the Arrogant.”

La Rochefoucauld found himself in a rather difficult position: on the one hand, he had to remain faithful to the queen, on the other, he absolutely did not want to quarrel with the duchess. The conspiracy was quickly and easily discovered, but although the prince sometimes attended meetings of the “Arrogant”, he did not experience any particular disgrace. Because of this, for some time there were even rumors that he himself allegedly contributed to the discovery of the conspiracy. Duchess de Chevreuse in once again went into exile, and the Duke de Beaufort spent five years in prison (his escape from Vincennes Castle, which actually took place, was described very colorfully, although not entirely correctly, by Dumas the Father in the novel “Twenty Years Later”).

Mazarin promised Marcillac the rank of brigadier general in case of successful service, and in 1646 he went into the army under the command of the Duke of Enghien, the future Prince of Condé, who had already won his famous victory at Rocroi. However, Marcillac was very soon seriously wounded by three musket shots and sent to Verteuil. Having lost the opportunity to distinguish himself in the war, after his recovery he concentrated his efforts on achieving the governorship of Poitou, which had been taken from his father. He assumed the office of governor in April 1647, paying a significant amount of money for it.

Experience of disappointments

For years, Marcillac waited in vain for royal favor and gratitude for his devotion. “We promise in proportion to our calculations, and we fulfill our promises in proportion to our fears,” he would later write in his “Maxims”... Gradually he became more and more close to the Condé house. This was facilitated not only by his father’s connections, but also by the prince’s relationship with the Duchess de Longueville, sister of the Duke of Enghien, which began back in 1646, during the military campaign. This blond, blue-eyed princess, one of the first beauties at court, was proud of her unblemished reputation, although she was the cause of many duels and several scandals at court. One of these scandals between her and her husband's mistress, Madame de Montbazon, Marcillac helped settle before the Fronde. He himself, wanting to achieve her favor, was forced to compete with one of his friends - Count Miossan, who, seeing the success of the prince, became one of his sworn enemies.

Relying on the support of Condé, Marcillac began to claim “Louvre privileges”: the right to enter the Louvre in a carriage and a “stool” for his wife - that is, the right to sit in the presence of the queen. Formally, he had no rights to these privileges, since they were granted only to dukes and princes of the blood, but in fact the monarch could grant such rights. For this reason, many again considered him arrogant and arrogant - after all, he wanted to become a duke during his father’s lifetime.

Having learned that he was bypassed during the “distribution of stools,” Marcillac dropped everything and went to the capital. At that time, the Fronde had already begun - a broad socio-political movement, led by aristocrats and the Parisian Parliament. Historians still find it difficult to give him precise definition.

Inclined at first to support the queen and Mazarin, Marcillac henceforth sided with the frondeurs. Soon after arriving in Paris, he gave a speech in parliament called “Apology for Prince Marcillac,” where he expressed his personal grievances and the reasons that prompted him to join the rebels. Throughout the war he supported the Duchess de Longueville and then her brother, the Prince of Condé. Having learned in 1652 that the duchess had taken a new lover, the Duke of Nemours, he broke up with her. Since then, their relationship has become more than cool, but the prince nevertheless remained a loyal supporter of the Great Condé.

With the outbreak of unrest, the Queen Mother and Mazarin left the capital and began the siege of Paris, which resulted in a peace signed in March 1649, which did not satisfy the frondeurs, because Mazarin remained in power.

A new stage of the confrontation began with the arrest of Prince Condé. But after his liberation, Condé broke with the other leaders of the Fronde and waged further struggle mainly in the provinces. By the declaration of October 8, 1651, he and his supporters, including the Duke of La Rochefoucauld (he began to bear this long-awaited title since the death of his father in 1651), were declared traitors to the state. In April 1652, the Prince of Condé with a significant army approached Paris. In the battle of the Parisian suburb of Saint-Antoine on July 2, 1652, La Rochefoucauld was seriously wounded in the face and temporarily lost his sight. The war was over for him. He then had to undergo long-term treatment; a cataract had to be removed from one eye. My vision recovered slightly only towards the end of the year.

After the Fronde

In September, the king promised an amnesty to all who lay down their arms. The Duke, blind and bedridden with attacks of gout, refused to do so. And soon he was again officially declared guilty of high treason with the deprivation of all titles and confiscation of property.

He was also ordered to leave Paris. He was allowed to return to his possessions only after the end of the Fronde, at the end of 1653.

Things fell into complete decline, the ancestral castle of Verteuil was destroyed by royal troops on the orders of Mazarin. The Duke settled in Angoumois, but sometimes visited Paris to visit his uncle, the Duke of Liancourt, who, judging by notarial deeds, gave him the Hotel Liancourt to stay in the capital. La Rochefoucauld now spent a lot of time with the children. He had four sons and three daughters. In April 1655, another son was born. His wife devotedly looked after La Rochefoucauld and supported him. It was at that time that he decided to write memoirs in order to tell the details of the events that he witnessed.

In 1656, La Rochefoucauld was allowed to finally return to Paris. And he went there to arrange the marriage of his eldest son. He was rarely at court - the king did not show him his favor, and therefore he spent most of his time in Vertey, the reason for this was also the Duke’s significantly weakened health.

Things improved a little in 1659, when he received a pension of 8 thousand livres as compensation for losses incurred during the Fronde. In the same year, the wedding of his eldest son, François VII, Prince of Marcilla, took place with his cousin, Jeanne-Charlotte, a wealthy heiress of the Liancourt house.

From that time on, La Rochefoucauld settled with his wife, daughters and younger sons in Saint-Germain, then still a suburb of Paris. He finally made peace with the court and even received the Order of the Holy Spirit from the king. But this order was not evidence of royal favor - Louis XIV patronized only his son, never fully forgiving the rebellious duke.

During that period, in many matters, and above all financial, La Rochefoucauld received a lot of help from his friend and former secretary Gourville, who later succeeded in the service of both the intendant Fouquet and the Prince of Condé. A few years later, Gourville married La Rochefoucauld's eldest daughter, Marie-Catherine. This misalliance initially gave rise to a lot of gossip at court, and then such an unequal marriage began to be passed over in silence. Many historians have accused La Rochefoucauld of “selling” his daughter for the financial support of a former servant. But according to the letters of the Duke himself, Gourville was in fact his close friend, and this marriage could well have been a consequence of their friendship.

The Birth of a Moralist

La Rochefoucauld was no longer interested in his career. In 1671, he transferred all the court privileges that the Duke so persistently sought in his youth to his eldest son, Prince Marcillac, who enjoyed a successful career at court. Much more often, La Rochefoucauld visited fashionable literary salons - Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Madame de Sable, Mademoiselle de Scudéry and Madame du Plessis-Guenego. He was a welcome guest in any salon and was known as one of the most educated people of his time. The king even thought about making him the Dauphin’s tutor, but he never decided to entrust the education of his son to the former frondeur.

In some salons serious conversations were held, and La Rochefoucauld, who knew Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Cicero well, and read Montaigne, Charron, Descartes, Pascal, took an active part in them. Mademoiselle Montpensier was engaged in drawing up literary portraits. La Rochefoucauld “painted” his self-portrait, which modern researchers have recognized as one of the best.

“I am full of noble feelings, good intentions and an unshakable desire to be truly decent person..." - he wrote then, wanting to express his desire, which he carried throughout his life and which few understood and appreciated. La Rochefoucauld noted that he was always completely faithful to his friends and strictly kept his word. If you compare this essay with his memoirs, it becomes obvious that he saw this as the reason for all his failures at court...

In Madame de Sable's salon they became carried away by "sentiments". According to the rules of the game, the topic on which everyone would compose aphorisms was determined in advance. Then the maxims were read out in front of everyone, and the most apt and witty ones were chosen. The famous “Maxims” began with this game.

In 1661 - early 1662, La Rochefoucauld finished writing the main text of the Memoirs. At the same time, he began work on compiling the collection “Maxim”. He showed new aphorisms to his friends. In fact, he supplemented and edited La Rochefoucauld’s “Maxims” for the rest of his life. He also wrote 19 short essays on morality, which he collected together under the title "Reflections on Various Subjects", although they were first published only in the 18th century.

In general, La Rochefoucauld had no luck with the publication of his works. One of the manuscripts of “Memoirs”, which he gave to friends to read, ended up with one publisher and was published in Rouen in a greatly altered form. This publication caused a huge scandal. La Rochefoucauld filed a complaint with the Parisian parliament, which, by decree of September 17, 1662, prohibited its sale. In the same year, the author’s version of “Memoirs” was published in Brussels.

The first edition of Maxim was published in 1664 in Holland - also without the knowledge of the author and again - from one of the handwritten copies that circulated among his friends. La Rochefoucauld was furious. He urgently published another version. In total, five Maxim publications approved by him were published during the Duke's lifetime. Already in the 17th century, the book was published outside of France. Voltaire spoke of it as “one of those works that most contributed to the formation of the nation’s taste and gave it a spirit of clarity...”

The Last War

Far from doubting the existence of virtues, the Duke became disillusioned with people who strive to classify almost any of their actions as virtues. Court life, and especially the Frond, gave him many examples of the most ingenious intrigues, where actions do not correspond to words and everyone ultimately strives only for their own benefit. “What we take for virtue often turns out to be a combination of selfish desires and actions, skillfully selected by fate or our own cunning; so, for example, sometimes women are chaste, and men are valiant, not at all because chastity and valor are actually characteristic of them.” These words open his collection of aphorisms.

Among his contemporaries, “Maxims” immediately caused a great resonance. Some found them excellent, others found them cynical. “He does not believe at all in generosity without secret interest, or in pity; he judges the world by himself,” wrote Princess de Guemene. The Duchess de Longueville, having read them, forbade her son, Count Saint-Paul, whose father was La Rochefoucauld, to visit Madame de Sable's salon, where such thoughts were preached. Madame de Lafayette began to invite the count to her salon, and gradually La Rochefoucauld also began to visit her more and more often. This began their friendship, which lasted until their death. Due to the Duke's venerable age and the Countess's reputation, their relationship generated almost no gossip. The Duke visited her at her house almost every day and helped her work on her novels. His ideas had a very significant influence on the work of Madame de Lafayette, and his literary taste and easy style helped her create a novel that is called a masterpiece literature XVII century, - “Princess of Cleves”.

Almost every day the guests gathered at Madame Lafayette’s or at La Rochefoucauld’s, if he could not come, they talked and discussed interesting books. Racine, Lafontaine, Corneille, Moliere, Boileau read their new works from them. Due to illness, La Rochefoucauld was often forced to stay at home. From the age of 40, he was tormented by gout, numerous wounds made themselves felt, and his eyes hurt. He completely withdrew from political life, however, despite all this, in 1667, at the age of 54, he volunteered to go to war with the Spaniards to participate in the siege of Lille. In 1670 his wife died. In 1672, a new misfortune befell him - in one of the battles, Prince Marcillac was wounded and Count Saint-Paul was killed. A few days later, a message arrived that La Rochefoucauld’s fourth son, Chevalier Marcillac, had died from his wounds. Madame de Sevigne wrote in her famous letters to her daughter that at this news the Duke tried to restrain his feelings, but tears flowed from his eyes.

In 1679, the French Academy noted the work of La Rochefoucauld, he was invited to become a member, but he refused. Some consider the reason for this to be shyness and timidity in front of an audience (he read out his works only to friends when no more than 5-6 people were present), others - a reluctance to glorify solemn speech Richelieu, founder of the Academy. Perhaps it is the pride of an aristocrat. A nobleman was obliged to be able to write gracefully, but to be a writer was beneath his dignity.

At the beginning of 1680, La Rochefoucauld's condition became worse. Doctors spoke of an acute attack of gout; modern researchers believe that it could have been pulmonary tuberculosis. From the beginning of March it became clear that he was dying. Madame de Lafayette spent every day with him, but when hope for recovery was completely lost, she had to leave him. According to the customs of that time, only relatives, a priest and servants could be at the bedside of a dying person. On the night of March 16-17, at the age of 66, he died in Paris in the arms of his eldest son.

Most of his contemporaries considered him an eccentric and a failure. He failed to become what he wanted - neither a brilliant courtier, nor a successful frondeur. Being a proud man, he preferred to consider himself misunderstood. The fact that the reason for his failures could lie not only in the self-interest and ingratitude of others, but partly in himself, he decided to tell only in the very last years of his life, which most were able to learn about only after his death: “The gifts that God has endowed people are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and bears only its own fruits. That is why the best pear tree will never bear even crappy apples, and the most gifted person gives in to a task that, although mediocre, is given only to those who are capable of this task. And therefore, composing aphorisms without at least a little talent for this kind of activity is no less ridiculous than expecting tulips to bloom in a garden bed where no bulbs are planted.” However, no one has ever disputed his talent as a compiler of aphorisms.

The time when François de La Rochefoucauld lived is usually called the "Great Century" French literature. His contemporaries were Corneille, Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, Pascal, Boileau. But the life of the author of Maxim bore little resemblance to the life of the creators of Tartuffe, Phaedra or Poetic Art. And he called himself a professional writer only as a joke, with a certain amount of irony. While his fellow writers were forced to look for noble patrons in order to exist, the Duke de La Rochefoucauld was often burdened special attention, which the Sun King provided to him. Receiving a large income from vast estates, he did not have to worry about remuneration for his literary works. And when writers and critics, his contemporaries, were absorbed in heated debates and sharp clashes, defending their understanding of dramatic laws, it was not at all about those and not at all about literary fights and battles that our author recalled and reflected on his rest. La Rochefoucauld was not only a writer and not only a moral philosopher, he was a military leader, politician. His life itself, full of adventures, is now perceived as an exciting story. However, he himself told it - in his “Memoirs”.

The La Rochefoucauld family was considered one of the most ancient in France - it dates back to the 11th century. French kings more than once officially called the lords of La Rochefoucauld “their dear cousins” and entrusted them with honorary positions at court. Under Francis I, in the 16th century, La Rochefoucauld received the title of count, and under Louis XIII - the title of duke and peer. These highest titles made the French feudal lord a permanent member of the Royal Council and Parliament and the sovereign master of his domains, with the right of legal proceedings. François VI Duke de La Rochefoucauld, who until his father's death (1650) traditionally bore the name Prince de Marcillac, was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. His childhood was spent in the province of Angoumois, in the castle of Verteuil, the main residence of the family. The upbringing and education of the Prince de Marcillac, as well as his eleven younger brothers and sisters, was rather careless. As befitted provincial nobles, he was mainly engaged in hunting and military exercises. But later, thanks to his studies in philosophy and history, reading the classics, La Rochefoucauld, according to contemporaries, became one of the most learned people in Paris.

In 1630, Prince de Marcillac appeared at court, and soon took part in the Thirty Years' War. Careless words about the unsuccessful campaign of 1635 led to the fact that, like several other nobles, he was exiled to his estates. His father, François V, had lived there for several years, having fallen into disgrace for his participation in the rebellion of Duke Gaston of Orleans, “the permanent leader of all conspiracies.” Young Prince de Marcillac sadly recalled his stay at court, where he took the side of Queen Anne of Austria, whom the first minister, Cardinal Richelieu, suspected of connections with the Spanish court, that is, of high treason. Later, La Rochefoucauld would speak of his “natural hatred” for Richelieu and his rejection of the “terrible way of his rule”: this will be the result of life experience and formed political views. In the meantime, he is full of knightly loyalty to the queen and her persecuted friends. In 1637 he returned to Paris. Soon he helps Madame de Chevreuse, a friend of the queen and a famous political adventurer, escape to Spain, for which he was imprisoned in the Bastille. Here he had the opportunity to communicate with other prisoners, among whom there were many noble nobles, and received his first political education, acquiring the idea that the “unjust rule” of Cardinal Richelieu was intended to deprive the aristocracy of the privileges and former political role they had been given for centuries.

On December 4, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died, and in May 1643, King Louis XIII died. Anne of Austria is appointed regent for the young Louis XIV, and unexpectedly for everyone, Cardinal Mazarin, the successor of Richelieu's work, finds himself at the head of the Royal Council. Taking advantage of the political turmoil, the feudal nobility demands the restoration of the former rights and privileges taken from them. Marcillac enters into the so-called conspiracy of the Arrogant (September 1643), and after the conspiracy is discovered, he is sent back to the army. He fights under the command of the first prince of the blood, Louis de Bourbron, Duke of Enghien (since 1646 - Prince of Condé, later nicknamed the Great for his victories in the Thirty Years' War). During these same years, Marcillac met Condé's sister, Duchess de Longueville, who would soon become one of the inspirers of the Fronde and for many years will be a close friend of La Rochefoucauld.

Marcillac is seriously wounded in one of the battles and is forced to return to Paris. While he was at war, his father bought him the position of governor of the province of Poitou; the governor was the king's viceroy in his province: all military and administration. Even before the newly appointed governor left for Poitou, Cardinal Mazarin tried to win him over with the promise of the so-called Louvre honors: the right of a stool for his wife (that is, the right to sit in the presence of the queen) and the right to enter the Louvre courtyard in a carriage.

The province of Poitou, like many other provinces, was in revolt: taxes placed an intolerable burden on the population. A revolt was also brewing in Paris. The Fronde had begun. The interests of the Parisian parliament, which led the Fronde at its first stage, largely coincided with the interests of the nobility who joined the rebellious Paris. Parliament wanted to regain its former freedom in the exercise of its powers, the aristocracy, taking advantage of the king’s minority and general discontent, sought to seize the highest positions of the state apparatus in order to have undivided control of the country. There was a unanimous desire to deprive Mazarin of power and expel him from France as a foreigner. The rebel nobles, who began to be called fronders, were led by the most eminent people of the kingdom.

Marcillac joined the frondeurs, left Poitou without permission and returned to Paris. He explained his personal grievances and reasons for participating in the war against the king in the Apology of the Prince of Marcillac, which was delivered in the Parisian Parliament (1648). La Rochefoucauld speaks in it about his right to privileges, about feudal honor and conscience, about services to the state and the queen. He blames Mazarin for the difficult situation in France and adds that his personal misfortunes are closely connected with the troubles of his homeland, and the restoration of trampled justice will be a benefit for the entire state. In La Rochefoucauld's Apology, the specific feature political philosophy of the rebel nobility: the conviction that their well-being and privileges constituted the well-being of all France. La Rochefoucauld claims that he could not call Mazarin his enemy before he was declared an enemy of France.

As soon as the riots began, the Queen Mother and Mazarin left the capital, and soon the royal troops besieged Paris. Negotiations for peace began between the court and the frontiers. Parliament, frightened by the size of the general indignation, abandoned the fight. Peace was signed on March 11, 1649 and became a kind of compromise between the rebels and the crown.

The peace signed in March did not seem durable to anyone, because it did not satisfy anyone: Mazarin remained the head of the government and pursued the same absolutist policy. A new civil war was caused by the arrest of Prince Condé and his associates. The Fronde of Princes began, which lasted more than three years (January 1650-July 1653). This last military uprising of the nobility against the new state order took on a wide scale.

The Duke de La Rochefoucauld goes to his possessions and gathers a significant army there, which unites with other feudal militias. The united rebel forces headed to the province of Guienne, choosing the city of Bordeaux as the center. In Guienne, popular unrest did not subside, which was supported by the local parliament. The rebel nobility was especially attracted by the convenient geographical location the city and its proximity to Spain, which closely monitored the emerging rebellion and promised its help to the rebels. Following feudal morality, the aristocrats did not at all consider that they were committing high treason by entering into negotiations with a foreign power: ancient regulations gave them the right to transfer to the service of another sovereign.

Royal troops approached Bordeaux. A talented military leader and skilled diplomat, La Rochefoucauld became one of the leaders of the defense. The battles went on with varying degrees of success, but the royal army turned out to be stronger. The first war in Bordeaux ended in peace (October 1, 1650), which did not satisfy La Rochefoucauld, because the princes were still in prison. The duke himself was subject to an amnesty, but he was deprived of his position as governor of Poitou and was ordered to go to his castle of Verteuil, which had been ravaged by the royal soldiers. La Rochefoucauld accepted this demand with magnificent indifference, notes a contemporary. La Rochefoucauld and Saint-Evremond give a very flattering description: “His courage and dignified behavior make him capable of any task... Self-interest is not characteristic of him, therefore his failures are only a merit. No matter what difficult conditions fate puts him in, he never will not resort to meanness."

The struggle for the release of the princes continued. Finally, on February 13, 1651, the princes received their freedom. The Royal Declaration restored them to all rights, positions and privileges. Cardinal Mazarin, obeying the decree of Parliament, retired to Germany, but nevertheless continued to govern the country from there - “just as if he lived in the Louvre.” Anna of Austria, in order to avoid new bloodshed, tried to attract the nobility to her side, making generous promises. Court groups easily changed their composition, their members betrayed each other depending on their personal interests, and this led La Rochefoucauld to despair. The queen nevertheless achieved the division of the dissatisfied: Condé broke with the rest of the frondeurs, left Paris and began to prepare for civil war, the third in such a short time. The royal declaration of October 8, 1651 declared the Prince of Condé and his supporters to be traitors to the state; La Rochefoucauld was among them. In April 1652, Condé's army approached Paris. The princes tried to unite with Parliament and the municipality and at the same time negotiated with the court, seeking new advantages for themselves.

Meanwhile, the royal troops approached Paris. In the battle near the city walls in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine (July 2, 1652), La Rochefoucauld was seriously wounded by a shot in the face and almost lost his sight. Contemporaries remembered his courage for a very long time.

Despite the success in this battle, the position of the frontiers worsened: discord intensified, foreign allies refused help. Parliament, ordered to leave Paris, split. The matter was completed by a new diplomatic trick by Mazarin, who, having returned to France, pretended that he was again going into voluntary exile, sacrificing his interests for the sake of universal reconciliation. This made it possible to begin peace negotiations, and young Louis XIV on October 21, 1652. solemnly entered the rebellious capital. Soon the triumphant Mazarin returned there. The parliamentary and noble Fronde came to an end.

According to the amnesty, La Rochefoucauld had to leave Paris and go into exile. His serious health condition after being wounded did not allow him to participate in political speeches. He returns to Angumua, takes care of the farm, which has fallen into complete disrepair, restores his ruined health and reflects on the events he has just experienced. The fruit of these thoughts was the Memoirs, written during the years of exile and published in 1662.

According to La Rochefoucauld, he wrote “Memoirs” only for a few close friends and did not want to make his notes public. But one of the many copies was printed in Brussels without the author’s knowledge and caused a real scandal, especially among Condé and Madame de Longueville.

La Rochefoucauld's "Memoirs" joined the general tradition of memoir literature of the 17th century. They summed up a time full of events, hopes and disappointments, and, like other memoirs of the era, had a certain noble orientation: the task of their author was to comprehend his personal activities as service to the state and prove with facts the validity of his views.

La Rochefoucauld wrote his memoirs in the "idleness caused by disgrace." Talking about the events of his life, he wanted to sum up his thoughts recent years and understand the historical meaning of the common cause to which he made so many useless sacrifices. He didn't want to write about himself. Prince Marcillac, who usually appears in the Memoirs in the third person, appears only occasionally when he takes a direct part in the events described. In this sense, La Rochefoucauld's "Memoirs" are very different from the "Memoirs" of his "old enemy" Cardinal Retz, who made himself the main character of his narrative.

La Rochefoucauld repeatedly speaks of the impartiality of his story. Indeed, he describes events without allowing himself too personal assessments, but his own position appears quite clearly in the Memoirs.

It is generally accepted that La Rochefoucauld joined the uprisings as an ambitious man offended by court failures, and also out of a love of adventure, so characteristic of every nobleman of that time. However, the reasons that brought La Rochefoucauld to the frondeur camp were more general character and were founded on firm principles to which he remained faithful throughout his life. Having adopted the political beliefs of the feudal nobility, La Rochefoucauld hated Cardinal Richelieu from his youth and considered the “cruel manner of his rule” unfair, which became a disaster for the entire country, because “the nobility was humiliated, and the people were crushed by taxes.” Mazarin was a continuator of Richelieu’s policy, and therefore he, according to La Rochefoucauld, led France to destruction.

Like many of his like-minded people, he believed that the aristocracy and the people were bound by “mutual obligations,” and he considered his struggle for ducal privileges as a struggle for general well-being and freedom: after all, these privileges were earned by serving the homeland and the king, and returning them means restoring justice, the very one that should determine the policy of a reasonable state.

But, observing his fellow fronders, he saw with bitterness “countless multitudes of unfaithful people”, ready for any compromise and betrayal. It is impossible to rely on them, because they, “at first joining any party, usually betray it or leave it, following own fears and interests." With their disunity and selfishness, they ruined the common, sacred in his eyes, cause of saving France. The nobility turned out to be unable to fulfill the great historical mission. And although La Rochefoucauld himself joined the frontiers after he was denied ducal privileges, his contemporaries recognized his loyalty to the common cause: no one could accuse him of treason. Until the end of his life, he remained devoted to his ideals and was objective in his attitude towards people. In this sense, the unexpected, at first glance, high assessment of the activities of Cardinal Richelieu, ending the first book of “Memoirs”: greatness. Richelieu's intentions and the ability to implement them must drown out private discontent; his memory must be given the praise so rightly deserved. The fact that La Rochefoucauld understood Richelieu's enormous merits and managed to rise above personal, narrow caste and "moral" assessments testifies not only to him. patriotism and a broad state outlook, but also about the sincerity of his confessions that he was guided not by personal goals, but by thoughts about the good of the state.

The life and political experience of La Rochefoucauld became the basis of his philosophical views. The psychology of the feudal lord seemed to him typical of man in general: private historical phenomenon turns into a universal law. From the political topicality of the Memoirs, his thought gradually turns to the eternal foundations of psychology developed in the Maxims.

When the Memoirs were published, La Rochefoucauld was living in Paris: he has been living there since the late 1650s. His previous guilt is gradually forgotten, and the recent rebel receives complete forgiveness. (Evidence of his final forgiveness was his award as a member of the Order of the Holy Spirit on January 1, 1662.) The king assigns him a substantial pension, his sons occupy profitable and honorable positions. He rarely appears at court, but, according to Madame de Sevigne, the Sun King always gave him special attention, and sat him next to Madame de Montespan to listen to music.

La Rochefoucauld becomes a regular visitor to the salons of Madame de Sable and, later, Madame de Lafayette. “Maxims” are associated with these salons, which forever glorified his name. The rest of the writer’s life was devoted to working on them. "Maxims" gained fame, and from 1665 to 1678 the author published his book five times. He is recognized as a major writer and a great expert on the human heart. The doors of the French Academy open before him, but he refuses to participate in the competition for an honorary title, supposedly out of timidity. It is possible that the reason for the refusal was the reluctance to glorify Richelieu in a ceremonial speech upon admission to the Academy.

By the time La Rochefoucauld began working on Maxims, great changes had occurred in society: the time of uprisings was over. A special role in public life countries began to play salons. In the second half of the 17th century, they united people of various social status - courtiers and writers, actors and scientists, military and statesmen. It was developing here public opinion circles that in one way or another participated in the state and ideological life of the country or in the political intrigues of the court.

Each salon had its own personality. For example, those who were interested in science, especially physics, astronomy or geography, gathered in the salon of Madame de La Sablier. Other salons brought together people close to Yangenism. After the failure of the Fronde, opposition to absolutism was quite clearly evident in many salons, taking various shapes. In the salon of Madame de La Sablière, for example, philosophical free-thinking reigned, and for the mistress of the house François Bernier, the famous traveler, wrote “A Summary of the Philosophy of Gassendi” (1664-1666). The interest of the nobility in free-thinking philosophy was explained by the fact that it was seen as a kind of opposition to the official ideology of absolutism. The philosophy of Jansenism attracted salon visitors because it had its own special look on the moral nature of man, different from the teachings of orthodox Catholicism, which entered into an alliance with the absolute monarchy. Former frondeurs, having suffered a military defeat, among like-minded people, expressed dissatisfaction with the new order in elegant conversations, literary “portraits” and witty aphorisms. The king was wary of both the Jansenists and the freethinkers, not without reason seeing in these teachings a dull political opposition.

Along with scientific and philosophical salons, there were also purely literary salons. Each was distinguished by its special literary interests: some cultivated the genre of “characters,” while others cultivated the genre of “portraits.” In the salon, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, daughter of Gaston d'Orléans, a former active frontier, preferred portraits. In 1659, in the second edition of the collection “Gallery of Portraits”, La Rochefoucauld’s “Self-Portrait”, his first printed work, was also published.

Among the new genres with which moralistic literature was replenished, the most widespread was the genre of aphorisms, or maxims. Maxims were cultivated, in particular, in the salon of the Marquise de Sable. The Marquise was reputed to be an intelligent and educated woman, and was involved in politics. She was interested in literature, and her name was authoritative in the literary circles of Paris. In her salon, discussions were held on topics of morality, politics, philosophy, even physics. But most of all, visitors to her salon were attracted by problems of psychology, analysis of the secret movements of the human heart. The topic of the conversation was chosen in advance, so that each participant prepared for the game by thinking through his thoughts. The interlocutors were required to be able to give a subtle analysis of feelings and an accurate definition of the subject. The sense of language helped to choose the most suitable one from a variety of synonyms, to find a concise and clear form for one’s thoughts - the form of an aphorism. The owner of the salon herself is the author of a book of aphorisms, “Instructions for Children,” and two collections of sayings, published posthumously (1678), “On Friendship” and “Maxims.” Academician Jacques Esprit, his man in the house of Madame de Sable and friend of La Rochefoucauld, entered the history of literature with a collection of aphorisms, “The Falsehood of Human Virtues.” This is how La Rochefoucauld's "Maxims" originally arose. The parlor game suggested to him a form in which he could express his views on human nature and sum up his long thoughts.

For a long time, there was an opinion in science that La Rochefoucauld’s maxims were not independent. In almost every maxim they found borrowings from some other sayings, and looked for sources or prototypes. At the same time, the names of Aristotle, Epictetus, Cicero, Seneca, Montaigne, Charron, Descartes, Jacques Esprit and others were mentioned. They also talked about folk proverbs. The number of such parallels could be continued, but external similarity is not proof of borrowing or lack of independence. On the other hand, it would indeed be difficult to find an aphorism or thought completely different from everything that preceded it. La Rochefoucauld continued something and at the same time started something new, which attracted interest in his work and made “Maxims” in a certain sense eternal value.

“Maxims” required intense and continuous work from the author. In letters to Madame de Sable and Jacques Esprit, La Rochefoucauld communicates more and more new maxims, asks for advice, waits for approval and mockingly declares that the desire to make maxims is spreading like a runny nose. On October 24, 1660, in a letter to Jacques Esprit, he confesses: “I real writer, since he began to talk about his works." Segre, Madame de Lafayette's secretary, once noticed that La Rochefoucauld revised individual maxims more than thirty times. All five editions of "Maxim" published by the author (1665, 1666, 1671, 1675, 1678 .), bear traces of this intense work. It is known that from edition to edition La Rochefoucauld freed himself from those aphorisms that directly or indirectly reminded him of someone’s statement, having experienced disappointment in his comrades in the struggle and having witnessed the collapse of the business to which he had given so much. a lot of strength, he had something to say to his contemporaries - he was a man with a well-established worldview, which had already found its initial expression in La Rochefoucauld’s “Maxims” were the result of his long reflections on the events of his life, so fascinating, but also. tragic, because La Rochefoucauld only had to regret the unattained ideals, which were realized and rethought by the future famous moralist and became the subject of his literary work.

Death found him on the night of March 17, 1680. He died in his mansion on the Rue Seine from a severe attack of gout, which had tormented him since the age of forty. Bossuet took his last breath.

La Rochefoucauld François: “Maxims and moral reflections” and Test: “The sayings of La Rochefoucauld”

“The talents with which God has endowed people are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and bears only its own fruits. That is why the best pear tree will never give birth to even the worst apples, but the most gifted person gives in to a task, albeit an ordinary one, but given only to those who are capable of this task. And therefore, composing aphorisms without at least a little talent for an activity of this kind is no less ridiculous than expecting that bulbs will bloom in a garden bed where no bulbs are planted. tulips." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“While intelligent people are able to express a lot in a few words, limited people, on the contrary, have the ability to talk a lot - and say nothing.” - F. La Rochefoucauld

François VI de La Rochefoucauld (French François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, September 15, 1613, Paris - March 17, 1680, Paris), Duke de La Rochefoucauld - French writer, author of works of a philosophical and moralistic nature. He belonged to the southern French family of La Rochefoucauld. Activist in the wars of the Fronde. During his father's lifetime (until 1650), he bore the title of courtesy Prince de Marcillac. Great-grandson of that François de La Rochefoucauld, who was killed on the night of St. Bartholomew.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld belonged to one of the most noble noble families in France. The military and court career for which he was destined did not require college training. La Rochefoucauld acquired his extensive knowledge already in mature age by independent reading. Arriving in 1630 to court, he immediately found himself in the thick of political intrigue.

Origin and family traditions determined his orientation - he took the side of Queen Anne of Austria against Cardinal Richelieu, who was hated by him as a persecutor of the ancient aristocracy. Participation in the struggle of these far from equal forces brought upon him disgrace, exile to his possessions and short-term imprisonment in the Bastille. After the deaths of Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643), Cardinal Mazarin, who was very unpopular among all segments of the population, came to power. The feudal nobility tried to regain their lost rights and influence. Dissatisfaction with Mazarin's rule resulted in 1648. in open rebellion against royal power - the Fronde. La Rochefoucauld took an active part in it. He was closely associated with the highest-ranking frontiers - the Prince of Condé, the Duke de Beaufort and others and could closely observe their morals, selfishness, lust for power, envy, selfishness and treachery, which manifested themselves at different stages of the movement. In 1652 The Fronde suffered a final defeat, the authority of the royal power was restored, and the participants of the Fronde were partially bought with concessions and handouts, and partially subjected to disgrace and punishment.

La Rochefoucauld, among the latter, was forced to go to his possessions in Angoumois. It was there, far from political intrigues and passions, that he began to write his “Memoirs,” which he initially did not intend for publication. In them he gave an undisguised picture of the events of the Fronde and characteristics of its participants. At the end of the 1650s. he returned to Paris, was favorably received at court, but completely withdrew from political life. During these years, he became increasingly attracted to literature. In 1662 The Memoirs were published without his knowledge in a falsified form; he protested this publication and released the original text in the same year. La Rochefoucauld's second book, which brought him world fame - "Maxims and Moral Reflections" - was, like "Memoirs", first published in a distorted form against the will of the author in 1664. In 1665 La Rochefoucauld published the first author's edition, which was followed during his lifetime by four more. La Rochefoucauld corrected and supplemented the text from edition to edition. The last lifetime edition was 1678. contained 504 maxims. IN posthumous publications Numerous unpublished ones were added to them, as well as those excluded from the previous ones. "Maxims" have been translated into Russian several times.