The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
What keeps us from abandoning ourselves entirely to one vice, often, is the fact that we have several.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our inclination to indulge in multiple vices prevents us from fully succumbing to any single one.
This quote reflects on the human tendency to hold onto various vices simultaneously. It suggests that rather than completely giving in to one destructive behavior or flaw, we often have a range of them, which can serve as a sort of checks and balances, preventing total submission to any one vice. This highlights the complexity of human nature and our struggles with self-control and moral ambiguity.
Themes
VicesSelf-ControlHuman NatureMoralityComplexity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on morality and ethics, this quote could illustrate the conflict within individuals when facing temptations.
More from Francois De La Rochefoucauld
All quotes βOld men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Conceit causes more conversation than wit.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
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.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead
Similar quotes
Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart. Then the work is over.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Whenever we seek to avoid the responsibility for our own behavior, we do so by attempting to give that responsibility to some other individual or organization or entity. But this means we then give away our power to that entity.
M. Scott PeckRead
The mind has first to be attuned to the Unconscious.
D.T. SuzukiRead
Are there other people who, when watching a documentary set in a prison, secretly think, as I have, 'Wish I had all that time to read'?
Zadie SmithRead
The same is the case when you enter a womb, enter into a fresh body, and start the journey of desires. But if you die alert, in that alertness not only the body dies, all desires evaporate. Then there is no entering into a womb. Then entering a womb is such a painful process, it is so painful that consciously you cannot do it; only unconsciously you can do it.
RajneeshRead
It is an in, a grave evil and a disturbance of the right order, for a larger and higher organisation, to arrogate to itself functions which can be performed efficiently by smaller and lower bodies.
Pope Leo XiiiRead