Francois de La Rochefoucauld Quotes

In the human heart there is a ceaseless birth of passions, so that the destruction of one is almost always the establishment of another.

The heart of man ever finds a constant succession of passions, so that the destroying and pulling down of one proves generally tobe nothing else but the production and the setting up of another.

Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure.

Conscience is the voice of the soul, the passions are the voice of the body. It is strange that these voices often contradict each other?

Were Guilt is, Rage and Courage doth abound.

In this mob of I's inside, which one is me? Hear me out. I know I'm wandering, but don't start putting a lid on this racket. No telling what I'll do then. Every moment I'm thrown by your story. One moment it's happy, and I'm singing. One moment it's sad, and I'm weeping. It turns bitter, and I pull away. But then you spill a little grace, and just like that, I'm all light. It's not so bad, this arrangement, actually.

Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul.

The greatest mania of all is passion: and I am a natural slave to passion: the balance between my brain and my soul and my body is as wild and delicate as the skin of a Ming vase.

What you call passion is not spiritual force, but friction between the soul and the outside world.

It was unbearable, and he thought again, 'How unhappy I am!' and became happier.

Her little butterfly soul fluttered incessantly between memory and dubious expectation.

I gestured my frustration. “I don’t know. She’s much better already. She wasn’t talking half an hour ago. Look at her now.” We all turned, finding Ceri sobbing quietly and drinking her tea in small reverent sips as the pixy girls hovered over her. Three were plating her long, fair hair and another was singing to her. Okay,” I said as we turned back. “Bad example.

Although I could never get used to the constant state of anxiety in which the guilty, the great, and the tenderhearted live, I felt I was doing my best in the way of mimicry.

In other words, it was a struggle with himself. And the product of that struggle: anger, bitterness, resentment, envy or transformation, aspiration, hope, decency..the product of that struggle is the quality of your life and the nature of your soul.

You perhaps now know that desire reduces us to pulp.

Bad love is better than no love at all, at least you know you're alive.

Anger, lust and such other evil passions raging in the heart are the real untouchables.

Divorce was the darkest, saddest place I had ever been. It was a struggle - there were a good four or five months of not being able to get out of bed. It was the worst time in my life. You get through it. It's a process that's not easy, but I get less and less sad about it every day.

Wise people may say what they will, but one passion is never cured by another.

Grief! thou art classed amongst the depressing passions. And true it is that thou humblest to the dust, but also thou exaltest to the clouds. Thou shakest us with ague, but also thou steadiest like frost. Thou sickenest the heart, but also thou healest its infirmities.

Bridget's anger evaporated and the sadness came back. The anger was easier. She owned and contolled it, whereas the sadness owned her.

I don't know what happiness is. I have periods of feeling joyous and peaceful and excited about what I'm doing, but I am also frequently very sad.

You can't patch a wounded soul with a Band-Aid.

Jealousy ... survives every other passion of mankind.