“ We should allow reason and good sense to fix the value of things, they should determine our taste and give things the merit they deserve, and the importance it is fitting we should give them. But nearly all men are deceived in the price and in the value, and in these mistakes there is always a kind of falseness. ”
François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665). copy citation
| Author | François de La Rochefoucauld |
|---|---|
| Source | Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims |
| Topic | importance value |
| Date | 1665 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by J. W. Willis Bund |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9105/9105-h/9105-h.htm |
Context
“He should be as firm and stedfast in a plot which ought to be stifled without fear of being false, as he would be false and absurd in fighting a duel about it.
A woman may like science, but all sciences are not suitable for her, and the doctrines of certain sciences never become her, and when applied by her are always false.
We should allow reason and good sense to fix the value of things, they should determine our taste and give things the merit they deserve, and the importance it is fitting we should give them. But nearly all men are deceived in the price and in the value, and in these mistakes there is always a kind of falseness.
VII. On Air and Manner.
There is an air which belongs to the figure and talents of each individual; we always lose it when we abandon it to assume another.
We should try to find out what air is natural to us and never abandon it, but make it as perfect as we can.”
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