Blog Archives - The French Moralists

Daily Aphorism

10/31/2011

We are very wrong to think that a persons faults exclude all virtue from him or to regard an alliance between good and bad as a monster or an enigma. It's because we don't see deeply into them that we reconcile so few things.

Nous avons grand tort de penser que quelque défaut que ce soit puisse exclure toute vertu , ou de regarder l'alliance du bien et du mal comme un monstre et comme une énigme. C'est faute de pénétration que nous concilions si peu de choses.

- Vauvenargues, aphorism 287

The Place Stanislas in Nancy, the town where Vauvenargues was hospitalized after the Siege of Prague.

Daily Aphorism

10/30/2011

Of all days, the one that is most lost is the one on which we have not laughed.

La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l'on n'a pas ri.

- Chamfort, aphorism 80

The Collège des Grassins in Paris, where Chamfort went to secondary school.

Daily Aphorism

10/29/2011

Our surest protectors are our talents.

Nos plus sûrs protecteurs sont nos talens

- Vauvenargues

The entrance to the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence, the town where Vauvenargues was born

Daily Aphorism

10/28/2011

A person cannot go far in friendship if he is not disposed to pardon others their little faults.

L'on ne peut aller loin dans l'amitié, si l'on n'est pas disposé à se pardonner les uns aux autres les petits défauts.

- La Bruyère, On Society and Conversation, aphorism 62

The cabinet des Livres at the Château de Chantilly, where La Bruyère was tutor to the grandson of the Prince of Condé and to one of the natural children of Louis XIV, Mlle de Nantes.

Daily Aphorism

10/27/2011

Seriousness is when people make their features seem mysterious in order to hide the weaknesses of their spirit.

La gravité est un mystère du corps, inventé pour cacher les défauts de l'esprit.

- La Rochefoucauld

A view from the terrace of the château de La Rochefoucauld in Charente

Daily Aphorism

10/26/2011

We think that we neglect glory out of pure laziness; meanwhile we take infinite pains for our smallest self-interest.

Nous croyons négliger la gloire par pure paresse, tandis que nous prenons des peines infinies pour le plus petit intérêt.

- Vauvenargues

Arras, where Vauvenargues was stationed before leaving the army.

Daily Aphorism

10/25/2011

There is nonsense that is well said, just as there are fools who are very well dressed.

Il y a des sottises bien habillées, comme il y a des sots très bien vêtus.

- Chamfort, aphorism 40

The chapel at Versailles, where Chamfort was a courtier to Louis XV

Daily Aphorism

10/24/2011

Our satiated disgust with things is not at all their fault and a sign that they can never fulfill us, as we like to believe, but an indication that we ourselves are exhausted, and it is a witness to our own weakness.

Notre dégoût n'est point un défaut et une insuffisance des objets extérieurs, comme nous aimons à le croire; mais un épuisement de nos propres organes , et un témoignage de notre faiblesse.

- Vauvenargues

The Quai Voltaire, where Voltaire had a home in Paris. Voltaire was one of Vauvenargues' few friends when he lived in Paris from 1745-1747.

Daily Aphorism

10/23/2011

I love virtue if it isn't savage,
I love pleasure if it isn't weak-hearted,
I love life and I'm not afraid that it will end.

J'aime la vertu sans rudesse,
J'aime le plaisir sans mollesse,
J'aime la vie et n'en crains pas la fin.

- Saint-Évremond

The Cour d'Honneur of Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where Saint-Évremond went to school.

Daily Aphorism

10/22/2011

To be with the people who one loves, that is enough; to dream, to speak with them, to not speak with them at all, to think with them, to think of things completely indifferent, but with them, everything is equal.

Être avec des gens qu'on aime, cela suffit : rêver, leur parler, ne leur parler point, penser à eux, penser à des choses plus indifférentes, mais auprès d'eux, tout est égal.

- La Bruyère, On the heart, aphorism 23

The Salle des Fêtes at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, where La Bruyère's father worked as the controller general of finance.