We should gain more by letting the world see what we are than by trying to seem what we are not.
 François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665). copy citation

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Author François de La Rochefoucauld
Source Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Topic appearance sincerity deceit
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


455.—However disposed the world may be to judge wrongly, it far oftener favours false merit than does justice to true.
456.—Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.
457.—We should gain more by letting the world see what we are than by trying to seem what we are not.
458.—Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves.
459.—There are many remedies to cure love, yet none are infallible.
460.—It would be well for us if we knew all our passions make us do.” source
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