The usual pretext of those who make others unhappy is that they do it for their own good. Luc de Clapiers More Quotes by Luc de Clapiers More Quotes From Luc de Clapiers The counsels of the old, like the winter sun, shine, but give no heat. Luc de Clapiers shiningwintergiving Habit is everything, even in love. Luc de Clapiers habit The greatest evil that fortune can bring to men is to endow them with feeble resources and yet to make them ambitious. Luc de Clapiers ambitionevilmen Great men undertake great things because they are great; fools, because they think them easy. Luc de Clapiers greatnessmenthinking Despair exaggerates not only our misery but also our weakness. Luc de Clapiers miserydespairweakness Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, nor knowledge a proof of genius. Luc de Clapiers superficial-knowledgegeniusignorance The shortness of life cannot dissuade us from its pleasures, nor console us for its pains. Luc de Clapiers pleasurepainlife Excessive distrust is not less hurtfJul than its opposite. Most men become useless to him who is unwilling to risk being deceived. Luc de Clapiers riskoppositesmen We are less hurt by the contempt of fools than by the lukewarm approval of men of intelligence. Luc de Clapiers foolhurtmen You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character. Luc de Clapiers wantcharacterpeople Persevere in the fight, struggle on, do not let go, think magnanimously of man and life, for man is good and life is affluent and fruitful. Luc de Clapiers fightingstruggleletting-go Man never rises to great truths without enthusiasm. Luc de Clapiers enthusiasmmen Lazy people always intend to start doing something. Luc de Clapiers lazy-peoplelazypeople The greatest achievement of the human spirit is to live up to one's opportunities and make the most of one's resources. Luc de Clapiers achievementaccomplishmentopportunity Whatever affection we have for our friends or relations, the happiness of others never suffices for our own. Luc de Clapiers affectionrelation Clearness is the ornament of deep thought. Luc de Clapiers clearnessornamentsdeep-thought With kings, nations, and private individuals, the strongest assume to themselves rights over the weakest, and the same rule is followed by animals, by matter, by the elements, so that everything is performed in the universe by violence. And that order which we blame with some appearance of justice is the most universal, most absolute, most unchangeable, and most ancient law of nature. Luc de Clapiers kingsrightsanimal Neither the gifts nor the blows of fortune equal those of nature. Luc de Clapiers equalblowfortune We are forced to respect the gifts of nature, which study and fortune cannot give. Luc de Clapiers studyfortunegiving The generality of men are so bound within the sphere of their circumstances that they have not even the courage to get out of them through their ideas, and if we see a few whom, in a way, speculation over great things makes incapable of mean ones, we find still more with whom the practice of small things takes away the feeling for great ones. Luc de Clapiers practicemenmean
