La Rochefoucauld François: Maxims and Moral Reflections and Test: Sayings of La Rochefoucauld

"The gifts with which the Lord has endowed people are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and brings only its own fruits. That is why the best pear tree will never give birth to even the worst apples, and the most gifted person succumbs to a matter, albeit an ordinary one, but given only to those who are capable of this business.And therefore, to compose aphorisms, without having at least a slight talent for an occupation of this kind, is no less ridiculous than to expect that in a garden where bulbs are not planted, tulips." - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"While smart people can express a lot in a few words, limited people, on the contrary, have the ability to talk a lot - and say nothing." - F. La Rochefoucauld

Francois VI de La Rochefoucauld (fr. François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld, September 15, 1613, Paris - March 17, 1680, Paris), Duke de La Rochefoucauld - French writer, author of works of a philosophical and moralistic nature. He belonged to the southern French family of La Rochefoucauld. Leader of the Fronde wars. During the life of his father (until 1650) he bore the courtesy title Prince de Marsillac. Great-grandson of that François de La Rochefoucauld, who was killed on the night of St. Bartholomew.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld belonged to one of the most distinguished noble families in France. The military and court career to which he was destined did not require college education. La Rochefoucauld acquired his extensive knowledge already in adulthood through independent reading. Got in 1630. to the court, he immediately found himself in the thick of political intrigues.

The origin and family traditions determined his orientation - he took the side of Queen Anne of Austria against Cardinal Richelieu, who was hated by him as a persecutor of the ancient aristocracy. Participation in the struggle of these far from equal forces brought him disgrace, deportation to his possessions and a short-term imprisonment in the Bastille. After the death of Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643), Cardinal Mazarin came to power, very unpopular in all segments of the population. The feudal nobility tried to regain their lost rights and influence. Dissatisfaction with the rule of Mazarin resulted in 1648. in open rebellion against royal power - the Fronde. La Rochefoucauld took an active part in it. He was closely associated with the highest-ranking Fronders - the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Beaufort and others, and could closely observe their morals, selfishness, lust for power, envy, self-interest and treachery, which manifested themselves at different stages of the movement. In 1652 The Fronde suffered a final defeat, the authority of the royal power was restored, and the participants in the Fronde were partially bought with concessions and handouts, partially subjected to disgrace and punishment.

La Rochefoucauld, among the latter, was forced to go to his possessions in Angumois. It was there, away from political intrigues and passions, that he began to write his Memoirs, which he did not originally intend to publish. In them, he gave an undisguised picture of the events of the Fronde and a description of its participants. At the end of the 1650s. he returned to Paris, was favorably received at court, but completely retired from political life. During these years, literature began to attract him more and more. In 1662 Memoirs came out without his knowledge in a falsified form, he protested this publication and released the original text in the same year. The second book of La Rochefoucauld, which brought him worldwide fame - Maxims and Moral Reflections - was, like the Memoirs, first published in a distorted form against the will of the author in 1664. In 1665 La Rochefoucauld released the first author's edition, followed by four more during his lifetime. La Rochefoucauld corrected and supplemented the text from edition to edition. The last lifetime edition of 1678. contained 504 maxims. Numerous unpublished editions were added to them in posthumous editions, as well as those omitted from previous editions. Maxims has been translated into Russian more than once.

He was brought up at court, from his youth he was involved in various intrigues, was at enmity with the Duke de Richelieu, and only after the death of the latter began to play a prominent role at court. He took an active part in the Fronde movement and was seriously wounded. He occupied a brilliant position in society, had many secular intrigues and experienced a number of personal disappointments that left an indelible mark on his work. For many years, the Duchess de Longueville played a large role in his personal life, out of love for whom he more than once abandoned his ambitious motives. Frustrated with his attachment, La Rochefoucauld became a gloomy misanthrope; his only consolation was his friendship with Madame de Lafayette, to whom he remained faithful until his death. The last years of La Rochefoucauld were overshadowed by various hardships: the death of his son, illnesses.

literary heritage

Maxims

The result of La Rochefoucauld's extensive life experience was his "Maximes" (Maximes) - a collection of aphorisms that make up an integral code of everyday philosophy. The first edition of "Maxim" was published anonymously in 1665. Five editions, increasingly enlarged by the author, appeared during the life of La Rochefoucauld. La Rochefoucauld is extremely pessimistic about human nature. The main aphorism of La Rochefoucauld: "Our virtues are most often skillfully disguised vices." At the basis of all human actions, he sees pride, vanity and the pursuit of personal interests. Depicting these vices and drawing portraits of ambitious and selfish, La Rochefoucauld mainly has in mind people of his own circle, the general tone of his aphorisms is extremely poisonous. He is especially successful in cruel definitions, well-aimed and sharp as an arrow, for example, the saying: "We all have a sufficient share of Christian patience to endure the suffering ... of other people." The purely literary meaning of "Maxim" is very high.

Memoirs

An equally important work of La Rochefoucauld was his Memoirs (Mémoires sur la régence d'Anne d'Autriche), first edition - 1662. A valuable source about the times of the Fronde.

The story of the pendants of Queen Anne of Austria, which formed the basis of the novel The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas took from Francois de La Rochefoucauld's Memoirs. In the novel Twenty Years Later, La Rochefoucauld is portrayed under his former title, Prince de Marsillac, as a man who is trying to kill Aramis, who is also favored by the Duchess de Longueville. According to Dumas, even the father of the Duchess's child was not La Rochefoucauld (as the rumors insisted in reality), but Aramis.

Family and Children

Parents: Francois V (1588-1650), Duke de La Rochefoucauld and Gabrielle du Plessis-Liancourt (d. 1672).

Wife: (since January 20, 1628, Mirebeau) André de Vivonne (d. 1670), daughter of Andre de Vivonne, seigneur de la Berodier and Marie Antoinette de Lomeni. Had 8 children:

François VII (1634-1714), duc de La Rochefoucauld

Charles (1635-1691), Knight of the Order of Malta

Marie Catherine (1637-1711), known as Mademoiselle de La Rochefoucauld

Henriette (1638-1721), known as Mademoiselle de Marsillac

Françoise (1641-1708), known as Mademoiselle d'Anville

Henri Achille (1642-1698), abbé de la Chaise-Dieu

Jean Baptiste (1646-1672), known as the Chevalier de Marsillac

Alexander (1665-1721), known as Abbé de Verteil

Extramarital affair: Anna Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé (1619-1679), Duchess de Longueville, had a son:

Charles Paris de Longueville (1649-1672), duc de Longueville, was one of the candidates for the Polish throne

Clever and cynical French duke - this is how Somerset Maugham described La Rochefoucauld. Refined style, accuracy, conciseness and harshness in assessments, which is not indisputable for most readers, made La Rochefoucauld's Maxims perhaps the most famous and popular among collections of aphorisms. Their author went down in history as a subtle observer, clearly disappointed in life - although his biography evokes associations with the heroes of the novels by Alexandre Dumas. This romantic and adventurous incarnation of him is now almost forgotten. But most researchers agree that the foundations of the duke's gloomy philosophy lie precisely in his complex, full of adventures, misunderstanding and deceived hopes of fate.

family tree

La Rochefoucauld is an ancient aristocratic family. This family dates back to the 11th century, from Foucault I lord de Laroche, whose descendants still live in the family castle of La Rochefoucauld near Angouleme. The eldest sons in this family have served as advisers to the French kings since ancient times. Many who bore this surname went down in history. Francois I La Rochefoucauld was the godfather of the French king Francis I. Francois III was one of the leaders of the Huguenots. Francois XII became the founder of the French Savings Bank and a friend of the great American natural scientist Benjamin Franklin.

Our hero was the sixth in the La Rochefoucauld family. François VI Duke de La Rochefoucauld, Prince Marsillac, Marquis de Guercheville, Comte de La Rocheguilon, Baron de Verteil, Montignac and Cahusac was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. His father, Francois V Comte de La Rochefoucauld, chief wardrobe master of Queen Marie de Medici, was married to the equally famous Gabriele du Plessis-Liancourt. Soon after the birth of François, his mother took him to the estate of Verteil in Angoumois, where he spent his childhood. The father remained to make a career at court and, as it turned out, not in vain. Soon the queen granted him the post of lieutenant general of the province of Poitou and 45,000 livres of income. Having received this position, he began to zealously fight the Protestants. All the more diligently that his father and grandfather were not Catholics. Francois III, one of the leaders of the Huguenots, died on Bartholomew's night, and Francois IV was killed by members of the Catholic League in 1591. François V converted to Catholicism, and in 1620 he was granted the title of duke for his successful fight against the Protestants. True, until the time when Parliament approved the patent, he was the so-called "temporary duke" - a duke by royal charter.

But even then, the ducal splendor already required large expenses. He spent so much money that his wife soon had to demand separate property.

The upbringing of children - Francois had four brothers and seven sisters - was taken care of by the mother, while the duke, on the days of his brief visits, devoted them to the secrets of court life. From a young age, he inspired his eldest son with a sense of noble honor, as well as feudal loyalty to the house of Conde. The vassal connection of La Rochefoucauld with this branch of the royal house has been preserved since the times when both were Huguenots.

Marsillac's education, which was common for a nobleman of that time, included grammar, mathematics, Latin, dance, swordsmanship, heraldry, etiquette and many other disciplines. Young Marsillac treated his studies, like most boys, but he was extremely partial to novels. The beginning of the 17th century was a time of great popularity for this literary genre - chivalric, adventurous, pastoral novels came out in abundance. Their heroes - sometimes valiant warriors, sometimes impeccable admirers - then served as ideals for noble young people.

When Francois was fourteen years old, his father decided to marry him to Andre de Vivonne, the second daughter and heiress (her sister died early) of the former head falconer Andre de Vivonne.

Disgraced Colonel

In the same year, Francois received the rank of colonel in the Auvergne regiment and in 1629 took part in the Italian campaigns - military operations in northern Italy, which France carried out as part of the Thirty Years' War. Returning to Paris in 1631, he found the court much changed. After the “Day of the Fools” in November 1630, when the Queen Mother Marie de Medici, who demanded the resignation of Richelieu and was already celebrating a victory, was soon forced to flee, many of her adherents, including the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, shared disgrace with her. The duke was removed from the administration of the province of Poitou and exiled to his home near Blois. Francois himself, who, as the eldest son of the duke, bore the title of Prince of Marsillac, was allowed to remain at court. Many contemporaries reproached him for arrogance, since the title of prince in France was reserved only for princes of the blood and foreign princes.

In Paris, Marsillac began to visit the fashion salon of Madame Rambouillet. Influential politicians, writers and poets, aristocrats gathered in her famous "Blue Drawing Room". Richelieu looked there, Paul de Gondi, the future Cardinal de Retz, and the future Marshal of France Comte de Guiche, Princess of Conde with their children - the Duke of Enghien, who would soon become Grand Conde, the Duchess de Longueville, then Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and the Prince of Conti , and many others. The salon was the center of gallant culture - all the novelties of literature were discussed here and conversations were held about the nature of love. To be a regular in this salon meant to belong to the most refined society. The spirit of Marsillac's favorite novels hovered here, here they tried to imitate their heroes.

Having inherited from his father a hatred for Cardinal Richelieu, Marsillac began to serve Anna of Austria. The beautiful but unfortunate queen perfectly matched the image from the novel. Marsillac became her faithful knight, as well as a friend of her lady-in-waiting Mademoiselle D'Hautfort and the famous Duchess de Chevreuse.

In the spring of 1635, the prince, on his own initiative, went to Flanders to fight the Spaniards. And upon his return, he learned that he and several other officers were not allowed to stay at court. Their disapproving comments about the French military campaign of 1635 were cited as the reason. A year later, Spain attacked France and Marsillac went back to the army.

After the successful end of the campaign, he expected that he would now be allowed to return to Paris, but his hopes were not destined to come true: "... I was forced to go to my father, who lived on his estate and was still in strict disgrace." But, despite the ban on appearing in the capital, before leaving for the estate, he secretly paid a farewell visit to the queen. Anne of Austria, forbidden by the king even to correspond with Madame de Chevreuse, gave him a letter for the disgraced duchess, which Marsillac took to Touraine, her place of exile.

Finally, in 1637, father and son were allowed to return to Paris. Parliament approved the ducal patent, and they were to arrive to complete all the formalities and take the oath. Their return coincided with the height of a scandal in the royal family. In August of that year, a letter left by the queen to her brother-king of Spain, with whom Louis XIII was still at war, was found in the monastery of Val-de-Grâce. The Mother Superior, under the threat of excommunication, told so much about the relationship of the queen with the hostile Spanish court that the king decided on an unheard of measure - Anna of Austria was searched and interrogated. She was accused of high treason and secret correspondence with the Spanish ambassador Marquis Mirabel. The king was even going to take advantage of this situation to divorce his childless wife (the future Louis XIV was born a year after these events in September 1638) and imprison her in Le Havre.

Things went so far that the idea of ​​escaping arose. According to Marsillac, everything was already ready for him to secretly take the queen and Mademoiselle D "Hautfort to Brussels. But the charges were dropped and such a scandalous escape did not take place. Then the prince volunteered to inform the Duchess de Chevreuse about everything that had happened. However, he was being watched ", therefore, his relatives categorically forbade him to see her. To get out of the situation, Marsillac asked the Englishman Count Kraft, their mutual friend, to tell the duchess that she would send a faithful person to the prince who could be notified about everything. The case went to a happy conclusion, and Marsillac departed for his wife's estate.

Between Mademoiselle d'Hautfort and the Duchess de Chevreuse there was an agreement on an urgent warning system. La Rochefoucauld mentions two books of hours - in green and red bindings. One of them meant that things were getting better, the other was a signal of danger. It is not known who confused the symbolism, but, having received the hour book, the Duchess de Chevreuse, believing that everything was lost, decided to flee to Spain and left the country in a hurry. Passing by Verteil, La Rochefoucauld's family estate, she asked the prince for help. But he, having listened to the voice of prudence for the second time, limited himself only to giving her fresh horses and people who accompanied her to the border. But when this became known in Paris, Marsillac was summoned for interrogation and was soon taken to prison. In the Bastille, thanks to the petitions of his parents and friends, he stayed only a week. And after his release, he was forced to return to Verteil. In exile, Marsillac spent many hours in the works of historians and philosophers, replenishing his education.

In 1639 the war broke out and the prince was allowed to join the army. He distinguished himself in several battles, and at the end of the Richelieu campaign even offered him the rank of major general, promising a bright future in his service. But at the request of the queen, he abandoned all promised prospects and returned to his estate.

court games

In 1642, preparations began for a conspiracy against Richelieu, organized by the favorite of Louis XIII Saint-Mar. He negotiated with Spain for assistance in overthrowing the cardinal and making peace. Anna of Austria and the king's brother, Gaston of Orleans, were devoted to the details of the conspiracy. Marsillac was not among its participants, but de Tou, one of Saint-Mar's close friends, turned to him for help on behalf of the queen. The prince resisted. The plot failed, and its main participants - Saint-Mar and de Tou - were executed.

On December 4, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died, and Louis XIII followed him into the other world. Upon learning of this, Marsillac, like many other disgraced nobles, went to Paris. Mademoiselle D "Otfort also returned to court, the Duchess de Chevreuse arrived from Spain. Now they all counted on the queen's special favor. However, very soon they found near Anna of Austria a newly-minted favorite - Cardinal Mazarin, whose positions, contrary to the expectations of many, turned out to be quite strong.

Deeply wounded by this, the Duchess de Chevreuse, the Duke of Beaufort and other aristocrats, as well as some parliamentarians and prelates, united to overthrow Mazarin, drawing up a new, so-called "conspiracy of the Arrogant."

La Rochefoucauld found himself in a rather difficult position: on the one hand, he had to remain faithful to the queen, on the other, he did not want to quarrel with the duchess at all. The plot was quickly and easily uncovered, but although the prince sometimes attended meetings of the Arrogant, he did not experience much disgrace. Because of this, for some time there were even rumors that he allegedly contributed to the disclosure of the conspiracy. The Duchess de Chevreuse once again went into exile, and the Duke de Beaufort spent five years in prison (his escape from the Château de Vincennes, which actually took place, was described very colorfully, although not quite correctly, by Dumas Father in the novel "Twenty Years Later" ).

Mazarin promised Marsillac the rank of brigadier general in case of successful service, and in 1646 he went to the army under the command of the Duke of Enghien, the future Prince of Condé, who had already won his famous victory at Rocroix. However, Marsillac was very soon seriously wounded by three musket shots and sent to Verteil. Having lost the opportunity to distinguish himself in the war, he, after his recovery, concentrated his efforts on how to achieve the governorship of Poitou, which had been taken from his father in due time. He assumed the office of governor in April 1647, having paid a considerable amount of money for it.

The Experience of Disappointment

For years, Marsillac waited in vain for royal favor and appreciation for his devotion. “We promise in proportion to our calculations, and we fulfill the promise in proportion to our fears,” he later wrote in his Maxims ... Gradually, he became closer and closer to the house of Conde. This was facilitated not only by the father's connections, but also by the prince's connection with the Duchess de Longueville, the sister of the Duke of Enghien, which began as early as 1646, during a military campaign. This blond, blue-eyed princess, one of the first beauties at court, was proud of her spotless reputation, although she was the cause of many duels and several scandals at court. One such scandal between her and her husband's mistress, Madame de Montbazon, Marsillac helped settle before the Fronde. Himself, wanting to achieve her location, was forced to compete with one of his friends - Count Miossan, who, seeing the success of the prince, became one of his sworn enemies.

Relying on the support of Conde, Marsillac began to claim the "Louvre privileges": the right to enter the Louvre in a carriage and a "stool" for his wife - that is, the right to sit in the presence of the queen. Formally, he had no rights to these privileges, since they relied only on dukes and princes of the blood, but in fact the monarch could have such rights. For this reason, many again considered him arrogant and arrogant - after all, he wanted to become a duke during his father's lifetime.

Having learned that he was still bypassed during the "distribution of stools", Marsillac left everything and went to the capital. At that time, the Fronde had already begun - a broad socio-political movement, headed by aristocrats and the Paris Parliament. Historians still find it difficult to give him an exact definition.

Inclined at first to support the queen and Mazarin, Marsillac henceforth sided with the Fronders. Shortly after his arrival in Paris, he delivered a speech in Parliament called "The Apology of the Prince of Marsillac", in which he expressed his personal claims and the reasons that prompted him to join the rebels. Throughout the war, he supported the Duchesse de Longueville and then her brother, the Prince of Condé. Learning in 1652 that the duchess had taken herself a new lover, the Duke of Nemours, he broke with her. Since then, their relationship has become more than cool, but the prince nevertheless remained a loyal supporter of the Great Condé.

With the onset of unrest, the queen mother and Mazarin left the capital and began the siege of Paris, which resulted in the peace signed in March 1649, which did not satisfy the Fronders, because Mazarin remained in power.

A new phase of confrontation began with the arrest of Prince Condé. But after the liberation, Conde broke with other leaders of the Fronde and continued the fight mainly in the provinces. By a declaration of October 8, 1651, he and his supporters, including the Duke of La Rochefoucauld (he began to bear this long-awaited title from the death of his father in 1651), were declared traitors. In April 1652, the Prince of Conde approached Paris with a significant army. In the battle near the Parisian suburb of Saint-Antoine on July 2, 1652, La Rochefoucauld was seriously wounded in the face and temporarily lost his sight. The war is over for him. He then had to be treated for a long time, in one eye it was necessary to remove a cataract. Vision recovered slightly only towards the end of the year.

After the Fronde

In September, the king promised amnesty to all who lay down their arms. The duke, blind and bedridden with attacks of gout, refused to do so. And soon he was again officially declared guilty of high treason with the deprivation of all ranks and confiscation of property.

He was also ordered to leave Paris. He was allowed to return to his possessions only at the end of the Fronde, at the end of 1653.

Things fell into complete decline, the ancestral castle of Verteil was destroyed by the royal troops on the orders of Mazarin. The duke settled in Angoumois, but sometimes visited his uncle, the Duke of Liancourt, in Paris, who, judging by the notarial deeds, gave him the Hotel Liancourt to live in the capital. La Rochefoucauld now spent much time with the children. He had four sons and three daughters. In April 1655 another son was born. His wife devotedly looked after La Rochefoucauld and supported him. It was at that time that he decides to write his memoirs in order to tell the details of the events that he witnessed.

In 1656, La Rochefoucauld was finally allowed to return to Paris. And he went there to arrange the marriage of his eldest son. He rarely visited the court - the king did not show his favor to him, and therefore he spent most of his time in Verteil, the reason for this was also the significantly weakened health of the duke.

Things improved a little in 1659, when he received a pension of 8,000 livres as compensation for the losses incurred during the Fronde. In the same year, his eldest son, Francois VII, Prince of Marsillac, married his cousin, Jeanne-Charlotte, a wealthy heiress of the Liancourt house.

Since that time, La Rochefoucauld settled with his wife, daughters and younger sons in Saint-Germain, then still a suburb of Paris. He finally made peace with the court and even received the Order of the Holy Spirit from the king. But this order was not evidence of royal favor - Louis XIV patronized only his son, without completely forgiving the rebellious duke.

At that time, in many matters, and above all financial, La Rochefoucauld was helped a lot by his friend and former secretary Gourville, who later succeeded in the service of both quartermaster Fouquet and Prince Condé. A few years later, Gourville married La Rochefoucauld's eldest daughter, Marie-Catherine. This misalliance at first gave rise to a lot of gossip at court, and then such an unequal marriage began to be passed over in silence. Many historians have accused La Rochefoucauld of "selling out" his daughter for the financial support of a former servant. But according to the letters of the Duke himself, Gourville was in fact his close friend, and this marriage could well have been the result of their friendship.

Birth of a moralist

La Rochefoucauld was no longer interested in a career. All court privileges, which the duke so stubbornly sought in his youth, he transferred in 1671 to his eldest son, Prince Marsillac, who was making a successful career at court. Much more often, La Rochefoucauld visited fashionable literary salons - Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Madame de Sable, Mademoiselle de Scudery and Madame du Plessis-Genego. He was a welcome guest in any salon and was reputed to be one of the most educated people of his time. The king even thought of making him the Dauphin's tutor, but did not dare to entrust the upbringing of his son to the former Frondeur.

Serious conversations were held in some salons, and La Rochefoucauld, who knew Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, Cicero well, read Montaigne, Charron, Descartes, Pascal, took an active part in them. Mademoiselle Montpensier was engaged in drawing up literary portraits. La Rochefoucauld "wrote" his self-portrait, which modern researchers have recognized as one of the best.

“I am full of noble feelings, good intentions and an unshakable desire to be a truly decent person ...” - he wrote then, wanting to express his desire, which he carried through his whole life and which few people understood and appreciated. La Rochefoucauld noted that he was always faithful to his friends to the end and strictly kept his word. If we compare this work with memoirs, it becomes obvious that in this he saw the reason for all his failures at court...

In the salon of Madame de Sable, they were carried away by "maxims". According to the rules of the game, the topic was determined in advance, on which everyone made up aphorisms. Then the maxims were read to everyone, and the most accurate and witty were selected from them. The famous "Maxims" began with this game.

In 1661 - early 1662, La Rochefoucauld finished writing the main text of the Memoirs. At the same time, he began work on compiling the collection "Maxim". He showed his friends new aphorisms. In fact, he supplemented and edited La Rochefoucauld's Maxims for the rest of his life. He also wrote 19 short essays on morality, which he collected together under the title Meditations on Various Subjects, although they did not first appear until the 18th century.

In general, La Rochefoucauld was not lucky with the publication of his works. One of the manuscripts of the Memoirs, which he gave to friends to read, got to one publisher and was published in Rouen in a heavily modified form. This publication caused a huge scandal. La Rochefoucauld complained to the Parliament of Paris, which, by decree of September 17, 1662, banned its sale. In the same year, the author's version of Memoirs was published in Brussels.

The first edition of "Maxim" was published in 1664 in Holland - also without the knowledge of the author and again - according to one of the handwritten copies that circulated among his friends. La Rochefoucauld was furious. He promptly issued another version. In total, five Maxim publications approved by him were issued during the Duke's lifetime. Already in the 17th century, the book was published outside of France. Voltaire referred to it as "one of those works that most contributed to the formation of a nation's taste and gave it a spirit of clarity ..."

Last war

Far from doubting the existence of virtues, the duke became disillusioned with people who seek to bring almost any of their actions under virtue. Court life, and especially the Fronde, gave him a lot of examples of the most ingenious intrigues, where actions do not correspond to words and everyone ultimately seeks only their own benefit. “What we take for virtue is often a combination of selfish desires and deeds artfully chosen by fate or our own cunning; so, for example, sometimes women are chaste, and men are valorous, not at all because they are really characterized by chastity and valor. These words open his collection of aphorisms.

Among contemporaries "Maxima" immediately caused a great resonance. Some found them excellent, others cynical. “He does not believe at all in generosity without a secret interest, or in pity; he judges the world by himself,” wrote Princess de Gemene. The Duchess de Longueville, having read them, forbade her son, the Count of Saint-Paul, whose father was La Rochefoucauld, to visit the salon of Madame de Sable, where such thoughts are preached. The Count began to invite Madame de Lafayette to her salon, and gradually La Rochefoucauld also began to visit her more and more often. From this began their friendship, which lasted until his death. In view of the duke's advanced age and the reputation of the countess, their relationship generated little gossip. The Duke visited her house almost daily, helping her work on novels. His ideas had a very significant influence on the work of Madame de Lafayette, and his literary taste and easy style helped her to create a novel that is called the masterpiece of literature of the 17th century - The Princess of Cleves.

Almost every day the guests gathered at Madame Lafayette's or at La Rochefoucauld's, if he could not come, they talked, discussed interesting books. Racine, Lafontaine, Corneille, Moliere, Boileau read their new works from them. La Rochefoucauld was often forced to stay at home due to illness. From the age of 40, he was tormented by gout, numerous wounds made themselves felt, and his eyes hurt. He completely retired from political life, however, despite all this, in 1667, at the age of 54, he volunteered to go to war with the Spaniards to participate in the siege of Lille. In 1670 his wife died. In 1672, a new misfortune fell upon him - in one of the battles, Prince Marsillac was wounded, and the Count of Saint-Paul was killed. A few days later, a message came that the fourth son of La Rochefoucauld, the Chevalier Marsillac, had died of wounds. Madame de Sevigne, in her famous letters to her daughter, wrote that at this news the duke tried to restrain his feelings, but tears themselves flowed from his eyes.

In 1679, the French Academy noted the work of La Rochefoucauld, he was invited to become a member, but he refused. Some consider the reason for this to be shyness and timidity in front of the audience (he read his works only to friends when no more than 5-6 people were present), others - unwillingness to glorify Richelieu, the founder of the Academy, in a solemn speech. Perhaps it's the pride of the aristocrat. The nobleman was obliged to be able to write gracefully, but to be a writer is below his dignity.

At the beginning of 1680 La Rochefoucauld became worse. Doctors spoke of an acute attack of gout, modern researchers believe that it could also be pulmonary tuberculosis. From the beginning of March it became clear that he was dying. Madame de Lafayette spent every day with him, but when the hope of recovery was completely lost, she had to leave him. According to the customs of that time, only relatives, a priest and servants could be at the bedside of a dying person. On the night of March 16-17, at the age of 66, he died in Paris in the arms of his eldest son.

Most of his contemporaries considered him an eccentric and a loser. He failed to become what he wanted - neither a brilliant courtier, nor a successful frondeur. Being a proud man, he preferred to consider himself misunderstood. The fact that the reason for his failures may lie not only in the self-interest and ingratitude of others, but partly in himself, he decided to tell only in the very last years of his life, which most could learn about only after his death: “The gifts that the Lord endowed people, are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and brings only its own fruits. That is why the best pear tree will never give birth even to bad apples, and the most gifted person succumbs to a business, albeit an ordinary one, but given only to those who are capable of this business. And therefore, to compose aphorisms, without having at least a little talent for this kind of occupation, is no less ridiculous than to expect tulips to bloom in a garden where bulbs are not planted. However, no one has ever disputed his talent as a compiler of aphorisms.

Francois VI de La Rochefoucauld (September 15, 1613, Paris - March 17, 1680, Paris), Duke de La Rochefoucauld - the famous French moralist, belonged to the ancient French family of La Rochefoucauld. Until the death of his father (1650) he bore the title of Prince de Marsillac.

He was brought up at court, from his youth he was involved in various intrigues, was at enmity with the Duke de Richelieu, and only after the death of the latter began to play a prominent role at court. He took an active part in the Fronde movement and was seriously wounded. He occupied a brilliant position in society, had many secular intrigues and experienced a number of personal disappointments that left an indelible mark on his work. For many years, the Duchess de Longueville played a large role in his personal life, out of love for whom he more than once abandoned his ambitious motives. Frustrated with his attachment, La Rochefoucauld became a gloomy misanthrope; his only consolation was his friendship with Madame de Lafayette, to whom he remained faithful until his death. The last years of La Rochefoucauld were overshadowed by various hardships: the death of his son, illnesses.

Our virtues are most often artfully disguised vices.

La Rochefoucauld Francois

Biography of François de La Rochefoucauld:

The time when Francois de La Rochefoucauld lived is usually called the "great age" of French literature. His contemporaries were Corneille, Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, Pascal, Boileau. But the life of the author of "Maxim" bore little resemblance to the life of the creators of "Tartuffe", "Phaedra" or "Poetic Art". And he called himself a professional writer only as a joke, with a certain amount of irony. While his fellow writers were forced to look for noble patrons in order to exist, the Duc de La Rochefoucauld was often weary of the special attention that the sun king gave him. Receiving a large income from vast estates, he did not have to worry about remuneration for his literary labors. And when writers and critics, his contemporaries, were absorbed in heated debates and sharp clashes, defending their understanding of the laws of drama, our author remembered and reflected on those and not at all on literary skirmishes and battles. La Rochefoucauld was not only a writer and not only a moral philosopher, he was a military leader, a political figure. His very life, full of adventure, is now perceived as an exciting story. However, he himself told it - in his Memoirs. The La Rochefoucauld family was considered one of the most ancient in France - it began in the 11th century. The French kings more than once officially called the seigneurs de La Rochefoucauld "their dear cousins" and entrusted them with honorary positions at court. Under Francis I, in the 16th century, La Rochefoucauld received the title of count, and under Louis XIII - the title of duke and peer. These highest titles made the French feudal lord a permanent member of the Royal Council and Parliament and a sovereign master in his possessions, with the right to judiciary. Francois VI Duke de La Rochefoucauld, who traditionally bore the name of Prince de Marsillac until his father's death (1650), was born on September 15, 1613 in Paris. He spent his childhood in the province of Angoumua, in the castle of Verteil, the main residence of the family. The upbringing and education of the Prince de Marcilac, as well as his eleven younger brothers and sisters, was rather careless. As befitted the provincial nobles, he was mainly engaged in hunting and military exercises. But later, thanks to his studies in philosophy and history, reading the classics, La Rochefoucauld, according to contemporaries, becomes one of the most learned people in Paris.

In 1630, Prince de Marcilac appeared at court, and soon took part in the Thirty Years' War. Careless words about the unsuccessful campaign of 1635 led to the fact that, like some other nobles, he was sent to his estates. His father, Francois V, who fell into disgrace for participating in the rebellion of the Duke of Gaston of Orleans, "the permanent leader of all conspiracies", had lived there for several years. The young prince de Marsillac sadly recalled his stay at court, where he took the side of Queen Anne of Austria, whom the first minister, Cardinal Richelieu, suspected of having connections with the Spanish court, that is, of treason. Later, La Rochefoucauld will speak of his "natural hatred" for Richelieu and of the rejection of the "terrible form of his government": this will be the result of life experience and formed political views. In the meantime, he is full of chivalrous loyalty to the queen and her persecuted friends. In 1637 he returned to Paris. Soon he helps Madame de Chevreuse, a friend of the queen, a famous political adventurer, escape to Spain, for which he was imprisoned in the Bastille. Here he had the opportunity to communicate with other prisoners, among whom there were many noble nobles, and received his first political education, assimilating the idea that the "unjust rule" of Cardinal Richelieu was intended to deprive the aristocracy of these privileges and former political role.

On December 4, 1642, Cardinal Richelieu dies, and in May 1643, King Louis XIII. Anna of Austria is appointed regent under the young Louis XIV, and unexpectedly for everyone, Cardinal Mazarin, the successor of Richelieu, turns out to be at the head of the Royal Council. Taking advantage of the political turmoil, the feudal nobility demanded the restoration of the former rights and privileges taken from it. Marsillac enters into the so-called conspiracy of the Arrogant (September 1643), and after the disclosure of the conspiracy, he again goes to the army. He fights under the command of the first prince of the blood, Louis de Bourbron, Duke of Enghien (since 1646 - Prince of Condé, later nicknamed the Great for victories in the Thirty Years' War). In the same years, Marcillac met Condé's sister, the Duchess de Longueville, who would soon become one of the inspirers of the Fronde and would be a close friend of La Rochefoucauld for many years.

Marsillac is seriously wounded in one of the battles and forced to return to Paris. While he was fighting, his father bought him the position of governor of the province of Poitou; The governor was the governor of the king in his province: all military and administrative control was concentrated in his hands. Even before the departure of the newly-made governor to Poitou, Cardinal Mazarin tried to win him over to his side with the promise of the so-called Louvre honors: the right of a stool to his wife (that is, the right to sit in the presence of the queen) and the right to enter the courtyard of the Louvre in a carriage.

The province of Poitou, like many other provinces, was in revolt: taxes were placed on the population with an unbearable burden. A riot was also brewing in Paris. The Fronde has begun. The interests of the Parisian parliament, which led the Fronde at its first stage, largely coincided with the interests of the nobility, who joined the insurgent Paris. Parliament wanted to regain its former freedom in the exercise of its powers, the aristocracy, taking advantage of the king's infancy and general discontent, sought to seize the highest positions of the state apparatus in order to completely dispose of the country. The unanimous desire was to deprive Mazarin of power and send him out of France as a foreigner. The most famous people of the kingdom were at the head of the rebel nobles, who began to be called Fronders.

1. In order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often confess that we are powerless to achieve something; in fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed

2. To read instructions to people who have committed deeds, as a rule, it is not kindness that makes us, but pride; we reproach them not even in order to correct, but only in order to convince of our own infallibility

3. Overzealous in small things usually becomes incapable of great things.

4. We lack the strength of character to obediently follow all the dictates of reason.

5. We are pleased not with what surrounds us, but with our attitude towards it, and we feel happy when we have what we ourselves love, and not what others consider worthy of love

6. No matter how proud people are of their accomplishments, the latter are often the result not of great ideas, but of an ordinary accident.

7. The happiness and unhappiness of a person depend not only on his fate, but on his character.

8. Grace is to the body what sanity is to the mind.

9. Even the most skillful pretense will not help to hide love for a long time when it is, or portray it when it is not.

10. If you judge love by its usual manifestations, it is more like enmity than friendship.

11. No person, having ceased to love, can not avoid the feeling of shame for the past love.

12. Love brings people as much good as bad

13. Everyone complains about their memory, but no one complains about their mind.

14. People could not live in society if they did not have the opportunity to lead each other by the nose.

15. Truly extraordinary qualities are endowed with those who managed to earn the praise of their envious people.

16. With the generosity of how we give advice, we don't give away anything else.

17. The more we love a woman, the more we tend to hate her.

18. Pretending that we have fallen into a trap prepared for us, we show really refined cunning, since it is easiest to deceive a person when he wants to deceive you.

19. It is much easier to be wise in other people's affairs than in your own.

20. It is easier for us to control people than to prevent them from controlling us.

21. Nature endows us with virtues, and fate helps them to manifest

22. There are people who are repulsive for all their virtues, and there are attractive people despite their shortcomings.

23. Flattery is a counterfeit coin that only circulates because of our vanity.

24. It is not enough to have many virtues - it is important to be able to use them

25. Worthy people respect us for our virtues, the crowd - for the favor of fate

26. Society often rewards the appearance of merit rather than the merit itself.

27. It would be much more useful to use all the powers of our mind to adequately experience the misfortunes that have fallen to our lot than to foresee the misfortunes that can still happen.

28. The desire for fame, the fear of shame, the pursuit of wealth, the desire to arrange life as conveniently and pleasantly as possible, the desire to humiliate others - this is often the basis of valor, so praised by people.

29. The highest virtue is to do in solitude what people decide only in the presence of many witnesses.

30. Praise for kindness is only worthy of a person who has the strength of character to sometimes be evil; otherwise, kindness most often speaks only of inactivity or lack of will

31. Doing evil to people in most cases is not as dangerous as doing them too much good.

32. Most often those people who think that they are not a burden for anyone are the ones who burden others.

33. A real dodger is one who knows how to hide his own dexterity

34. Generosity neglects everything in order to take possession of everything

36. Real eloquence is the ability to say everything you need, and no more than you need.

37. Every person, whoever he may be, tries to put on such an appearance and put on such a mask that he will be accepted for who he wants to appear to be; therefore it can be said that society consists of masks alone

38. Magnificence is a cunning trick of the body invented to hide the flaws of the mind

39. The so-called generosity is usually based on vanity, which is dearer to us than everything that we give.

40. People so willingly believe bad things, not trying to understand the essence, because they are vain and lazy. They want to find the guilty ones, but they do not seek to bother themselves with the analysis of the committed offense.

41. No matter how far-sighted a person is, it is not given to him to comprehend all the evil that he does

42. Sometimes a lie is so cleverly pretended to be the truth that not to succumb to deception would mean betraying common sense.

43. Showy simplicity is subtle hypocrisy

44. It can be argued that human characters, like some buildings, have several facades, and not all of them have a pleasant appearance.

45. We rarely understand what we really want

46. ​​The gratitude of most people is caused by a secret desire to achieve even greater benefits.

47. Almost all people pay for small favors, most are grateful for small ones, but almost no one feels gratitude for large ones.

48. No matter what praises we hear in our address, we do not find anything new in them for ourselves.

49. Often we are condescending to those who burden us, but we are never condescending to those to whom we ourselves are a burden.

50. To exalt one's virtues in private with oneself is as reasonable as it is foolish to boast of them in front of others

51. There are situations in life that you can only get out of with the help of a considerable amount of recklessness.

52. What is the reason that we remember in detail what happened to us, but are not able to remember how many times we told the same person about it?

53. The great pleasure with which we talk about ourselves should have planted in our souls the suspicion that the interlocutors do not share it at all.

54. Confessing to minor shortcomings, we thereby try to convince society that we do not have more significant

55. To become a great person, you need to be able to deftly use the chance that fate offers

56. We consider sane only those people who agree with us in everything

57. Many shortcomings, if skillfully used, sparkle brighter than any virtues.

58. People of small mind are sensitive to petty offenses; people of great intelligence notice everything and are not offended by anything

59. No matter how distrustful we may be of our interlocutors, it still seems to us that they are more sincere with us than with others.

60. Cowards, as a rule, are not given to appreciate the power of their own fear.

61. Young people usually think that their behavior is natural, while in fact they behave rudely and ill-mannered

62. People of a shallow mind often discuss everything that is beyond their understanding.

63. True friendship does not know envy, and true love does not know coquetry

64. You can give good advice to your neighbor, but you cannot teach him reasonable behavior.

65. Everything that ceases to work out ceases to interest us

67. If vanity does not crush all our virtues to the ground, then, in any case, it shakes them.

68. It is often easier to endure a lie than to hear the whole truth about yourself.

69. Dignity is not always inherent in majesty, but majesty is always inherent in some dignity.

70. Magnificence suits virtue as much as a precious adornment suits a beautiful woman.

71. In the most ridiculous position are those older women who remember that they were once attractive, but forgot that they have long lost their former beauty.

72. For our most noble deeds, we would often have to blush if others knew about our motives

73. Not able to please someone who is smart in one way for a long time

74. The mind usually serves us only to boldly do stupid things.

75. Both the charm of novelty and long habit, for all the opposite, equally prevent us from seeing the shortcomings of our friends.

76. A woman in love is more likely to forgive a big indiscretion than a small infidelity.

77. Nothing prevents naturalness like the desire to appear natural

78. Sincerely praising good deeds means taking part in them to some extent.

79. The surest sign of high virtues is not to know envy from birth

80. It is easier to know people in general than one person in particular.

81. The virtues of a person should not be judged by his good qualities, but by how he uses them

82. Sometimes we are too grateful, sometimes paying off friends for the good done to us, we still leave them in debt

83. We would have very few cravings if we knew exactly what we want.

84. As in love, so in friendship, we are more likely to enjoy what we do not know than what we know about.

85. We try to take credit for those shortcomings that we do not want to correct.

87. In serious matters, care must be taken not so much to create favorable opportunities as to seize them.

88. What our enemies think of us is closer to the truth than our own opinion

89. We have no idea what our passions can push us to.

90. Sympathy for enemies in trouble is most often caused not so much by kindness as by vanity: we sympathize with them in order to show our superiority over them

91. Flaws often make great talents

92. No one's imagination is able to come up with such a multitude of conflicting feelings that usually coexist in one human heart.

93. Genuine softness can only be shown by people with a strong character: for the rest, their apparent softness is, as a rule, ordinary weakness, which easily becomes embittered

94. The peace of our soul or its confusion depends not so much on the important events of our life, but on a successful or unpleasant combination of everyday trifles for us

95. Not too broad mind, but sound as a result is not so tiring for the interlocutor than the mind is broad, but confused

96. There are reasons why one can abhor life, but one cannot despise death.

97. Do not think that death will seem to us the same as we saw it from afar

98. The mind is too weak to rely on it when facing death.

99. The talents with which God endowed people are as diverse as the trees with which he adorned the earth, and each has special properties and fruits inherent only to him. Therefore, the best pear tree will not even give birth to crappy apples, and the most talented person gives in to a business, although an ordinary one, but given only to those who are capable of this business. For this reason, to compose aphorisms when you do not have at least a small talent for this occupation is no less ridiculous than to expect tulips to bloom in a garden where bulbs are not planted.

100. Therefore, we are ready to believe any stories about the shortcomings of our neighbors, because it is easiest to believe what we want

101. Hope and fear are inseparable: fear is always full of hope, hope is always full of fear

102. Do not be offended by people who have hidden the truth from us: we ourselves constantly hide it from ourselves

103. The end of good marks the beginning of evil, and the end of evil marks the beginning of good

104. Philosophers condemn wealth only because we mismanage it. It depends on us alone how to acquire it, how to use it without serving vice. Instead of using wealth to support and feed evil deeds, as firewood feeds fire, we could give it to the service of virtues, thereby giving them both brilliance and attractiveness.

105. The collapse of all the hopes of a person is pleasant to everyone: both his friends and enemies

106. When we are completely bored, we stop being bored

107. True self-flagellation is subjected to only one who does not tell anyone about it; otherwise everything is facilitated by vanity

108. A wise man is happy with little, but a fool is not enough: that is why all people are unhappy

109. A clear mind gives the soul what health gives the body

110. Lovers begin to see the shortcomings of their mistresses only when their feelings come to an end.

111. Prudence and love are not made for each other: as love grows, prudence decreases

112. A wise person understands that it is better to forbid yourself a hobby than to fight it later.

113. It is much more useful to study not books, but people

114. As a rule, happiness finds the happy, and unhappiness finds the unfortunate

115. He who loves too much does not notice for a long time that he himself is no longer loved.

116. We scold ourselves only for someone to praise us

117. Hiding our true feelings is much harder than depicting non-existent ones.

118. Much more unhappy is the one who doesn't like anyone than the one who doesn't like anyone.

119. A person who realizes what misfortunes could fall on him is already happy to some extent.

120. He who has not found peace in himself cannot find it anywhere

121. A person is never as unhappy as he would like to be.

122. It is not in our will to fall in love or fall out of love, therefore neither a lover has the right to complain about the frivolity of his mistress, nor she - about inconstancy

123. When we stop loving, it gives us joy that they cheat on us, because in this way we are freed from the need to be faithful

124. In the failures of our close friends, we find something even pleasant for ourselves.

125. Having lost the hope of discovering intelligence in those around us, we no longer try to keep it ourselves.

126. No one rushes others like lazy people: having gratified their own laziness, they want to appear diligent

127. We have as much reason to complain about people who help us to know ourselves as an Athenian madman to complain about a doctor who cured him of the false belief that he is a rich man.

128. Our selfishness is such that not a single flatterer is able to outdo it

129. About all our virtues, the same thing can be said that an Italian poet once said about decent women: most often they just skillfully pretend to be decent.

130. We confess our own vices only under the pressure of vanity

131. Rich funeral rites do not so much perpetuate the dignity of the dead as they please the vanity of the living.

132. Unshakable courage is needed to organize a conspiracy, but ordinary courage is enough to endure the dangers of war.

133. A person who has never been in danger cannot be responsible for his own courage.

134. It is much easier for people to limit their gratitude than their hopes and desires.

135. Imitation is always unbearable, and a fake is unpleasant to us by the very features that so captivate in the original

136. The depth of our grief for lost friends is not so much in accordance with their virtues, but rather with our own need for these people, as well as how highly they valued our virtues.

137. We hardly believe in what lies beyond our horizons.

138. Truth is the fundamental principle and essence of beauty and perfection; beautiful and perfect only that, having everything that it should have, is truly what it should be

139. It happens that beautiful works are more attractive when they are imperfect than when they are too finished.

140. Generosity is a noble effort of pride, with the help of which a person masters himself, thereby mastering everything around him.

141. Laziness is the most unpredictable of our passions. Despite the fact that its power over us is imperceptible, and the damage caused by it is deeply hidden from our eyes, there is no passion more ardent and malicious. If we look closely at her influence, we will be convinced that she invariably manages to take possession of all our feelings, desires and pleasures: she is like a clinging fish, stopping huge ships, like a dead calm, more dangerous for our most important affairs than any reefs and storms. In lazy peace, the soul finds a secret delight, for the sake of which we instantly forget about our most ardent aspirations and our most firm intentions. Finally, to give a true idea of ​​this passion, let us add that laziness is such a sweet peace of the soul that comforts it in all losses and replaces all blessings.

142. Everyone loves to study others, but no one likes to be studied.

143. What a boring illness it is to protect one's own health with too strict a regimen!

144. Most women give up not because their passion is so strong, but because they are weak. For this reason, enterprising men always have such success, although they are not at all the most attractive.

145. The surest way to kindle passion in another is to keep yourself cold

146. The height of the sanity of the least sane people lies in the ability to meekly follow the reasonable orders of others

147. People strive to achieve worldly blessings and pleasures at the expense of their neighbors.

148. Most likely, the one who is convinced that he can not bore anyone is bored.

149. It is unlikely that several people have the same aspirations, but it is necessary that the aspirations of each of them do not contradict each other.

150. All of us, with few exceptions, are afraid to appear before our neighbors as we really are.

151. We lose a lot by appropriating a manner that is alien to us

152. People try to appear different from what they really are, instead of becoming what they want to appear.

153. Many people are not only ready to give up their manner of holding themselves for the sake of that which they consider appropriate to the position and rank they have attained, but even while dreaming of exaltation, they begin to behave in advance as if they had already exalted themselves. How many colonels behave like the marshals of France, how many judges pretend to be chancellors, how many townswomen play the part of duchesses!

154. People think not about the words they listen to, but about those that they long to pronounce

155. You should talk about yourself and set yourself as an example as rarely as possible.

156. The one who does not exhaust the subject of the conversation and gives the opportunity to others to think up and say something else is prudent.

157. It is necessary to talk with everyone about subjects close to him, and only when it is appropriate.

158. If to say the right word at the right moment is a great art, then to remain silent at the right time is an even greater art. Eloquent silence can sometimes express agreement, and disapproval; sometimes silence is mocking, but sometimes it is respectful

159. Usually people become frank because of vanity.

160. There are few secrets in the world that are kept forever

161. Great examples have produced an abominable number of copies.

162. Old people are so fond of giving good advice, because they can no longer set bad examples.

163. The opinions of our enemies about us are much closer to the truth than our own opinions.