Luc de Clapiers

The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambition.

You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.

Men sometimes feel injured by praise because it assigns a limit to their merit; few people are modest enough not to take offense that one appreciates them.

Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something.

The idle always have a mind to do something.

The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught.

Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.

When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.

The fool is like those people who think themselves rich with little.

To possess taste, one must have some soul.

The conscience of the dying belies their life.

The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures.