“ For many reasons we may be disgusted with life, but for none may we despise it. ”
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 | disgust reason |
| 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
“Yet everything that could be has been written to persuade us that death is no evil, and the weakest of men, equally with the bravest, have given many noble examples on which to found such an opinion, still I do not think that any man of good sense has ever yet believed in it. And the pains we take to persuade others as well as ourselves amply show that the task is far from easy. For many reasons we may be disgusted with life, but for none may we despise it. Not even those who commit suicide regard it as a light matter, and are as much alarmed and startled as the rest of the world if death meets them in a different way than the one they have selected. The difference we observe in the courage of so great a number of brave men, is from meeting death in a way different from what they imagined, when it shows itself nearer at one time than at another.”
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