“We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.”

— François de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims, Maxim 304, 1665–1678

About François de La Rochefoucauld

1613 – 1680

French moralist, author of the "Maxims" (1665).

“Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.”

“Our virtues are most frequently but vices in disguise.”

“Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.”

“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”

“All becoming and growing—all that guarantees a future—involves pain.”

“It is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.”

“The superior man thinks of virtue; the small man thinks of comfort.”

“A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.”

“Let us forget and forgive injuries.”