La Rochefoucauld §laroch_038: We promise according to our hopes; we perform according to our fears.
Source: François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims (1665) (laroch_038) · external_aligned
We promise according to our hopes; we perform according to our fears. ["The reason why the Cardinal (Mazarin) deferred so long to grant the favours he had promised, was because he was persuaded that hope was much more capable of keeping men to their duty than gratitude."--Fragments Historiques. Racine.]
Witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15)
- manuscript_tradition: First edition, Paris 1665 — Barbin imprint
- critical_edition: Pleiade edition — Truchet (Gallimard, 1964)
- translation: Tancock translation (Penguin Classics, 1959)
- republication: Project Gutenberg — Maxims
- republication: Internet Archive — multiple editions