We endeavor to make a virtue of the faults we are unwilling to correct. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

Self-interest speaks all sorts of tongues, and plays all sorts of roles, even that of disinterestedness. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

We take less pains to be happy than to appear so. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

There are different kinds of curiosity; one springs from interest, which makes us desire to know everything that may be profitable to us; another from pride, which springs from a desire to know what others do not know. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

We become so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that at last we are disguised to ourselves. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

We think few people sensible except those who are of our own opinion. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

What men have given the name of friendship to is nothing but an alliance, a reciprocal accommodation of interests, an exchange of good offices; in fact, it is nothing but a system of traffic, in which self-love always proposes to itself some advantage. Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)