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		<title>La Rochefoucauld, Francois -- Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶211 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:42:09 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[La Rochefoucauld, Francois]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[There are people who resemble popular songs: they are sung for a time and then forgotten. [Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, qu’on ne chante qu’un certain temps.] The manuscripts of some early editions included a clause about those popular songs being distasteful (as seen in some of the translations below), but [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are people who resemble popular songs: they are sung for a time and then forgotten.</p>
<p><em>[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, qu’on ne chante qu’un certain temps.]</em></p>
<br><b>François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld</b> (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble<br><i>Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims]</i>, ¶211 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)] 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://archive.org/details/maximsofducdelar0000laro/page/72/mode/2up?q=211" target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

The manuscripts of some early editions included a clause about those popular songs being distasteful (as seen in some of the translations below), but the phrase was not in the final (1678) edition:<br><br>

<blockquote><em>[Il y a des gens qui ressemblent aux vaudevilles, que tout le monde chante un certain temps, quelques fades et dégoûtants qu’ils soient.]</em></blockquote><br>

(<a href="https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/%C5%92uvres_de_La_Rochefoucauld_-_T.1/R%C3%A9flexions_ou_sentences_et_maximes_morales#:~:text=.%20(%C3%A9d.%201.)-,CCXI,-Il%20y%20a">Source (French)</a>). Other translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>There are a sort of people may be compar'd to those trivial Songs, which all are in an humour to sing for a certain time, how flat and distasteful soever they may be.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A49597.0001.001/1:4.64?rgn=div2;view=fulltext">Davies</a> (1669), ¶64]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Some Men are like Ballads, that every body Sings at one time or other, though they be never so dull and insipid.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A49601.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext#:~:text=Some%20Men%20are%20like%20Ballads%2C%20that%20every%20body%20Sings%20at%20one%20time%20or%20other%2C%20though%20they%20be%20never%20so%20dull%20and%20insipid.">Stanhope</a> (1694), ¶212]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>There are people who, like new songs, are in vogue only for a time.<br>
[pub. <a href="https://archive.org/details/maximsandmoralr00rochgoog/page/n143/mode/2up?q=%22CCCCLIV.%22">Donaldson</a> (1783), ¶454; ed. <a href="https://archive.org/details/maximsmoralrefle00larouoft/page/71/mode/1up">Lepoittevin-Lacroix</a> (1797), ¶202]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>There are those, who, like new songs, are favourites only for a time.<br> 
[ed. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044019833292&view=2up&seq=127&skin=2021&q1=songs">Carvill</a> (1835), ¶491] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Some people resemble ballads, which are only sung for a certain time.<br>
[ed. <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075829600&view=1up&seq=107&skin=2021&q1=ballads">Gowens</a> (1851), ¶220] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>There are people who are like farces, which are praised but for a time (however foolish and distasteful they may be).<br>
[tr. <a href="https://gutenberg.org/files/9105/9105-h/9105-h.htm#link211:~:text=There%20are%20people%20who%20are%20like%20farces%2C%20which%20are%20praised%20but%20for%20a%20time%20(however%20foolish%20and%20distasteful%20they%20may%20be).">Bund/Friswell</a> (1871), ¶211]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Some people are like rag-time -- their popularity is short-lived.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Maxims_of_Le_Duc_de_La_Rochefoucauld/eq89AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=216">Heard</a> (1917), ¶216]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Some people are like popular songs, which are sung only for a season.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Maxims_of_Fran%C3%A7ois_Duc_de_La_Rochef/MhZEAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22popular%20songs%22">Stevens</a> (1939), ¶211]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Some people are like a popular song, taken up only for a time.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/maximsoflarochef00laro/page/70/mode/2up?q=%22popular+song%22">Kronenberger</a> (1959), ¶211] </blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Some people are like popular songs that you only sing for a short time.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/maxims0000laro/page/60/mode/2up?q=211">Tancock</a> (1959), ¶211]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>There are people who resemble certain kinds of popular music, which are sung only for a certain time, however insipid and disgusting they may be, and then forgotten.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://thomaswhichello.com/a-translation-of-reflections-or-sentences-and-moral-maxims-by-francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/#:~:text=There%20are%20people%20who%20resemble%20certain%20kinds%20of%20popular%20music%2C%20which%20are%C2%A0sung%20only%20for%20a%20certain%20time%2C%20however%20insipid%20and%20disgusting%20they%C2%A0may%20be%2C%20and%20then%20forgotten.">Whichello</a> (2016) ¶211]</blockquote><br>						</span>
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