In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us.[28]
The confidence we have in ourselves arises in a great measure from that that we have in others.
Women for the most part surrender themselves more from weakness than from passion. Whence it is that bold and pushing men succeed better than others, altho they are not so lovable.
The great ones of the earth can neither command health of body nor repose of mind, and they buy always at too dear a price the good they can acquire.
Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.
The harm that others do us is often less than that we do ourselves.
Magnanimity is a noble effort of pride which makes a man master of himself, to make him master of all things.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] From the translation by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell. At least eight English translations of La Rochefoucauld had appeared before 1870—including the years 1689, 1694, 1706, 1749, 1799 and 1815. Besides these, Swedish, Spanish and Italian translations have been made. The first English version (1689), appears to have been made by Mrs. Aphra Behn, the barber's daughter, upon whom has been conferred the distinction of being "the first female writer who lived by her pen in England." One of the later translations is by A. S. Bolton. The translation by Messrs. Bund and Friswell includes fifty additional maxims attributed to La Rochefoucauld.