To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

About Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Portrait of Francois de La Rochefoucauld

François de La Rochefoucauld, 2nd Duke of La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (; French: [fʁɑ̃swa d(ə) la ʁɔʃfuko]; 15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was an accomplished French moralist of the era of French Classical literature and author of Maximes and Memoirs, the only two works of his dense...

More quotations from Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Few are agreeable in conversation, because each thinks more of what he intends to say than of what others are saying, and listens no more when he himself has a chance to speak.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Be systematically heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, when the hour of need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved or untrained to stand the test.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

More quotations tagged with “conversation”

Few are agreeable in conversation, because each thinks more of what he intends to say than of what others are saying, and listens no more when he himself has a chance to speak.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him.

—Dr. Thomas Fuller

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

—Dorothy Nevill

Each person's life is lived as a series of conversations.

—Deborah Tannen

Saying what we think gives us a wider conversational range than saying what we know.

—Cullen Hightower

History

11 Jul 2015 Added