The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Nature seems at each man's birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices, and to have determined how good or how wicked that man shall be capable of being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that an individual's character traits and moral capacity are predetermined by nature from birth.
Francois De La Rochefoucauld's quote highlights the idea that each person's virtues and vices are innate, predetermined by the natural order. He proposes that one's potential for goodness or wickedness is set at the moment of birth, implying a philosophical stance that questions the extent of free will versus determinism in shaping one's character.
Themes
NatureVirtuesVicesCharacterDeterminism
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy class discussion about determinism, this quote can illustrate the debate about nature versus nurture.
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The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.
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To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
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