La Rochefoucauld on fake virtues and more

Introduction. La Rochefoucauld was an eminent French nobleman in the 17th century. His striking observations on life still give us wise counsel in 2022! Discover 9 insights from his masterpiece Collected Maxims and Other Reflections 👇

Lethargy and cowardice might appear virtuous: "We are held to our duty by laziness and timidity, but often our virtue gets all the credit." Some people rebrand their inertia as consistency - others rebrand their cowardice as a stoic control over emotions.

The human brain is better at actually dealing with problems once they happen, than at predicting and avoiding them in the first place: “Our minds are better employed in bearing the misfortunes that do befall us than is foreseeing those that may.”

Fascinating aphorism: “When the vices give us up we flatter ourselves that we are giving them up.” When a person stops drinking too much - did they perform a commendable moral U-Turn, or did the demon of youthful energy just slip out of them?

Self-constraint is only a virtue when your unconstrained self is capable of causing damage: “Nobody deserves to be praised for goodness unless he is strong enough to be bad, for any other goodness is usually merely inertia or lack of will-power.”

Not everything can be seen, communicated, or appreciated. If a person fails to notice and value a certain virtue of yours, it may be because he lacks the “sense” for it: “Certain good qualities are like the senses; those who lack them can neither appreciate nor understand them.”

The one vice that gets more of a pass than it should? Laziness: “Of all our faults we think most leniently of laziness; we deceive ourselves into believing that…instead of destroying our other qualities, it merely suspends their functions.”

Authenticity goes a long way: “Thousands of people with good qualities are displeasing; thousands pleasing with far less abilities, and why? Because the first wish to appear to be what they are not, the second are what they appear.”

Every single aspect of your personality can be used to your advantage: “There are foolish people who recognize their foolishness and use it skillfully.”

Beware the hand of good old self-interest in everything: “Self-interest speaks all kinds of languages and plays all kinds of parts––even that of disinterestedness. ”