“ It is only the passions that have the power of bringing them to light, and sometimes give us views more true and more perfect than art could possibly do. ”
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 | passion power |
| 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
“403.—Fortune sometimes uses our faults to exalt us, and there are tiresome people whose deserts would be ill rewarded if we did not desire to purchase their absence.
404.—It appears that nature has hid at the bottom of our hearts talents and abilities unknown to us. It is only the passions that have the power of bringing them to light, and sometimes give us views more true and more perfect than art could possibly do.
405.—We reach quite inexperienced the different stages of life, and often, in spite of the number of our years, we lack experience.
["To most men experience is like the stern lights of a ship which illumine only the track it has passed."— Coleridge.]”
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