La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶462 (1665–1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]

Dave — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 22:59:07 +0000

The self-same pride which makes us condemn the vices from which we imagine ourselves to be free also leads us to despise the virtues we do not possess.

[Le même orgueil qui nous fait blâmer les défauts dont nous nous croyons exempts, nous porte à mépriser les bonnes qualités que nous n’avons pas.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶462 (1665–1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]

First appeared in the 5th (1678) edition. In the manuscript, it read:

L’orgueil, qui fait que nous blâmons les défauts que nous croyons ne point avoir, fait aussi que nous méprisons les bonnes qualités que nous n’avons pas.

(Source (French)). Other translations:

The same Pride that disposes us to condemn the Faults we think our selves free from, inclines us to undervalue the good qualities we want.
[tr. Stanhope (1694), Book 2 ¶50; Stanhope (1706), ¶462]

The same pride that makes us condemn the faults we imagine ourselves exempt from, inclines us to despise the good qualities we are not possessed of.
[pub. Donaldson (1783), ¶352; ed. Lepoittevin-Lacroix (1797), ¶400]

The same pride that condemns the faults from which we are exempt, inclines us to despise those good qualities of which we are not possessed.
[ed. Carvill (1835), ¶312]

The same pride which makes us censure the faults from which we fancy ourselves exempt, induces us to despise the good qualities which we want.
[ed. Gowens (1851), ¶488]

The same pride which makes us blame faults from which we believe ourselves free causes us to despise the good qualities we have not.
[tr. Bund/Friswell (1871), ¶462]

The same pride which makes us condemn the faults of which we think ourselves free, impels us to scorn the virtues we do not possess.
[tr. Heard (1917), ¶485]

Pride, which makes us censure so strongly those failings from which we are exempt, leads us also to despise those good qualities that we do not possess.
[tr. FitzGibbon (1957), ¶462]

The same pride that makes us condemn those faults we think we lack leads us to scorn the good qualities we fail to possess.
[tr. Kronenberger (1959), ¶462]

The very pride that makes us condemn failings from which we think we are exempt leads us to despise good qualities we do not possess.
[tr. Tancock (1959), ¶462]

That same pride which makes us censure faults from which we believe ourselves exempt, also causes us to despise those good qualities which we do not possess.
[tr. Whichello (2016), ¶462]

The same pride which makes us blame faults from which we believe ourselves exempt causes us to despise the good qualities we do not have.
[tr. Chandler, ¶462]

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Autobiography, ch. 7 “The War of America the Unready” (1913)

Dave — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 14:14:00 +0000

Americans learn only from catastrophes and not from experience.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer; US President (1901–09)
Autobiography, ch. 7 “The War of America the Unready” (1913)

WIST Quotations

La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶462 (1665–1678) [tr. Stevens (1939)]

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Autobiography, ch. 7 “The War of America the Unready” (1913)