Luc de Clapiers

The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambition.

Vice stirs up war, virtue fights.

All grand thoughts come from the heart.

The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success.

One promises much, to avoid giving little.

You must rouse into people's consciousness their own prudence and strength, if you want to raise their character.

The idle always have a mind to do something.

To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.

Everyone is born sincere and die deceivers.

Obscurity is the realm of error.

One can not be just if one is not humane.

Prosperity makes few friends.

It is difficult to esteem a man as highly as he would wish.

The conscience of the dying belies their life.

The maxims of men reveal their characters.

The fool is like those people who think themselves rich with little.

To execute great things, one should live as though one would never die.

Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.

The wicked are always surprised to find ability in the good.

You are not born for fame if you don't know the value of time.