Point Books During Maxims

Original Title:	Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes morales
ISBN:	014044095X (ISBN13: 9780140440959)
Edition Language:	English

Maxims Paperback | Pages: 126 pages

Describe Epithetical Books Maxims

Title	:	Maxims
Author	:	François de La Rochefoucauld
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 126 pages
Published	:	June 25th 1981 by Penguin Classics (first published 1665)
Categories	:	Philosophy. Classics. Nonfiction. Cultural. France

Chronicle Concering Books Maxims

We do not like to praise, and we never praise without a motive.

François Duc de La Rochefoucauld was something of a bungler in life. The scion of a great house, the beneficiary of a princely education, the young nobleman got himself mixed up in all sort of plots and intrigues, eventually getting himself locked in the Bastille and later banished to his estate. As a result of this rather undistinguished career in the world, he developed into a man-of-letters, achieving far more success on the page than in the palace.

La Rochefoucauld made a permanent contribution to literature with his Maximes: a collection of cutting aphorisms on the vanity of human nature. His perspective is cynical: seeing bad motives behind even the best actions. Or in his opening words: “Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised.” And I do not think that one must be a defeated aristocrat in order to see the truth in many of his pronouncements. Here he is his describing me:

One of the reasons that we find so few persons rational and agreeable in conversation is there is hardly a person who does not think more of what he wants to say than of his answer to what is said. The most clever and polite content themselves with only seeming attentive while we perceive in their mind and eyes that at the very time they are wandering from what is said and desire to return to what they want to say.

This also certainly applies to me: “How is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?” But do not think that I am somehow superior for admitting to these shortcomings; for “We own to small faults to persuade others that we have not great ones.” And do not attempt to compliment me: “The refusal of praise is only the wish to be praised twice.” There is no way out.

I often found myself laughing at these aphorisms. So many of them ring true to my experience. And they represent a perspective too rarely expressed in daily life. Selfless action is a deeply appealing concept; and many people wish fervently to believe in it. Yet it is an incontestable fact that most of what we do, even apparently altruistic actions, benefits ourselves in one way or another.

Politicians fight to pass legislation to benefit their constituents, who then return the politician to power; businessmen give their employees a raise, who thus work harder and take less vacation; a friend picks me up from the airport, but he expects me to do something for him in the future; a man returns a wallet he found on the street, is given a reward, and then is lauded on social media. And of course, altruism towards one’s family is the easiest thing to explain this way, since the family is just an extension of the self—psychologically and genetically.

Some may find this way of thinking gloomy and unproductive. But I do think it is important to keep in mind our tendency to act out of self-interest; for, in my experience, it is those who are most attached to the idea of selfless action who most often treat other people badly. It is a dangerous thing to think that virtue is on your side. And, personally, I find it a great relief to see myself as an ordinary animal rather than a moral machine. Self-knowledge requires knowledge of our less honorable motives; and pretending otherwise can lead to a kind of self-alienation: “We become so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that at last we are disguised to ourselves.”

But this dark view of human nature must be tempered in two respects. First, not even La Rochefoucauld thought that all actions were driven by vice. He thinks true virtue is rare, but that it does exist. Second, La Rouchefoucauld often points out that our vices prompt us to act more virtuously than virtue ever could: “The praise bestowed upon us is at least useful in rooting us in the practice of virtue.” Or, elsewhere: “Interest which is accused of all our misdeeds often should be praised for our good deeds.” After all, the actions I described above are all virtuous actions.

And this, for me, is the key insight of La Rochefoucauld’s cynicism: seeing our self-interest, not as inherently bad, but as a kind of neutral force which can be channeled for good or for evil. This insight alone could prevent a lot of needless guilt. More importantly, once we accept this premise, we can more easily shape our lives and societies. For we have discovered the secret of living together: finding arrangement in which self-interest overlaps.

Rating Epithetical Books Maxims

Ratings: 4.06 From 2813 Users | 186 Reviews

Judge Epithetical Books Maxims

"Our virtues are usually only vices in disguise."So begins this collection of hundreds of short aphorisms about human nature, most of them 3 sentences or less, which touch on love, war, business, courage, money, death, perception, politics, freindship, vanity, morality, laziness, and hypocrisy. The writer, the Duc De La Rochefoucauld, had a philosophy which linked all human action to people's "self-love". Cynical, but not in a mean way. La Rochefoucauld was very good at seeing the hidden

La Rochefoucauld writes in the Maxims that age makes men both sillier and wiser. He does not say that progress in one entails progress in the other but it would be convenient to believe so because, as my children will agree, I am sillier now than I used to be. I indulge in bad puns and gratuitous spoonerisms. I make, and enjoy making, dad jokes. In my middle age I find that most of the old vices and temptations loosen their grip (La Rochefoucauld: When the vices give us up we flatter ourselves

The full title of the text is Reflections or Aphorisms and Moral Maxims; and in centered text below the title are the words "Our virtues are usually only vices in disguise." The subtitle says as much as the title. These aphorisms are bitter as they are pithy. Perhaps not bitter -- say, rather, that La Rochefoucauld was not optimistic about human nature. Very few of these aphorisms speak of love, friendship, virtue, or humility with anything but skepticism.Given how nearly sublimely pessimistic

Some of the maxims that caught my eye:"Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it."Maxim 22"We have more strength than will; and it is often merely for an excuse we say things are impossible." Maxim 30"Those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things."Maxim 41"We have not enough strength to follow all our reason." Maxim 42"Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things themselves; we are happy

A book who exposes the hypocrisy of mankind in an unashamed way, and in a very very easy way to read. If you want to add 20 years of life experience to you current age, this is the book to read. It is, however, interesting how a book written almost 400 years ago can still summarize so well the behavior of mankind still today.

Maximes Supprimeés (after the First Edition)"La sobriété est l'amour de la santé, ou l'impuissance de manger beaucoup."(p95, Flammarion) Moderation is either a love of health, or the inability to eat and drink any more."Comment prétendons-nous qu'un autre garder notre secret si nous ne pouvons le garder nous-memes?" (p99) Compare Ben Franklin's improvement: "Three men can keep a secret, if two of them are dead." (Poor Richard's Almanac, 70 years after Maxims, 1665.)"C'est une ennuyeuse maladie

La Rochefoucauld writes in the Maxims that age makes men both sillier and wiser. He does not say that progress in one entails progress in the other but it would be convenient to believe so because, as my children will agree, I am sillier now than I used to be. I indulge in bad puns and gratuitous spoonerisms. I make, and enjoy making, dad jokes. In my middle age I find that most of the old vices and temptations loosen their grip (La Rochefoucauld: When the vices give us up we flatter ourselves