{"query": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_449: When fortune surprises us by g", "count": 20, "results": [{"id": "card_n_9ff7e54715bd", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_449: When fortune surprises us by giving us some great office without having gradu...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "When fortune surprises us by giving us some great office without having gradually led us to expect it, or without having raised our hopes, it is well nigh impossible to occupy it well, and to appear w"}, {"id": "card_n_ff2f198d1c2d", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_399: There is a kind of greatness which does not depend upon fortune: it is a cert...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "There is a kind of greatness which does not depend upon fortune: it is a certain manner what distinguishes us, and which seems to destine us for great things; it is the value we insensibly set upon ou"}, {"id": "card_n_297c492faedd", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_054: The contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge the...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "The contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune, by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them; it was a secret to "}, {"id": "card_n_dd15e1a870e3", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_024: When great men permit themselves to be cast down by the continuance of misfor...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "When great men permit themselves to be cast down by the continuance of misfortune, they show us that they were only sustained by ambition, and not by their mind; so that PLUS a great vanity, heroes ar"}, {"id": "card_n_9658144b296d", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_227: Lucky people are bad hands at correcting their faults; they always believe th...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "Lucky people are bad hands at correcting their faults; they always believe that they are right when fortune backs up their vice or folly. [\"The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for"}, {"id": "card_n_55041a1251fd", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_365: There are virtues which degenerate into vices when they arise from Nature, an...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "There are virtues which degenerate into vices when they arise from Nature, and others which when acquired are never perfect. For example, reason must teach us to manage our estate and our confidence, "}, {"id": "card_n_385890d13874", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_018: Moderation is caused by the fear of exciting the envy and contempt which thos...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "Moderation is caused by the fear of exciting the envy and contempt which those merit who are intoxicated with their good fortune; it is a vain display of our strength of mind, and in short the moderat"}, {"id": "card_n_ff5a44af024e", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_287: Fertility of mind does not furnish us with so many resources on the same matt...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "Fertility of mind does not furnish us with so many resources on the same matter, as the lack of intelligence makes us hesitate at each thing our imagination presents, and hinders us from at first disc"}, {"id": "card_n_65fceda2577c", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_438: There is a certain lively gratitude which not only releases us from benefits ...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "There is a certain lively gratitude which not only releases us from benefits received, but which also, by making a return to our friends as payment, renders them indebted to us. [\"And understood not t"}, {"id": "card_n_98b661940546", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_025: We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune.", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "We need greater virtues to sustain good than evil fortune. [\"Prosperity do{th} best discover vice, but adversity do{th} best discover virtue.\"--Lord Bacon, Essays{, (1625), \"Of Adversity\"}.] {The quot"}, {"id": "card_n_e1eb918f6faf", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_278: What makes us so often discontented with those who transact business for us i...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "What makes us so often discontented with those who transact business for us is that they almost always abandon the interest of their friends for the interest of the business, because they wish to have"}, {"id": "card_n_ce0a908f32d9", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_347: We hardly find any persons of good sense, save those who agree with us.", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "We hardly find any persons of good sense, save those who agree with us. [\"That was excellently observed, say I, when I read an author when his opinion agrees with mine.\"--Swift, Thoughts On Various Su"}, {"id": "card_n_55124e708c9c", "title": "Boethius, Consolation §boe_02_08: 'But that thou mayst not think that I wage implacable warfare against Fortune...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "witness", "snippet": "'But that thou mayst not think that I wage implacable warfare against Fortune, I own there is a time when the deceitful goddess serves men well--I mean when she reveals herself, uncovers her face, and"}, {"id": "card_n_955aa36ca9c3", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_088: Self love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, i...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "Self love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them, and we judge of their merit by the manner in which they act towards us."}, {"id": "card_n_556376b8b2c9", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_426: The charm of novelty and old custom, however opposite to each other, equally ...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "The charm of novelty and old custom, however opposite to each other, equally blind us to the faults of our friends. [\"Two things the most opposite blind us equally, custom and novelty.\"-La Bruyere, De"}, {"id": "card_n_e813ad395000", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_016: This clemency of which they make a merit, arises oftentimes from vanity, some...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "This clemency of which they make a merit, arises oftentimes from vanity, sometimes from idleness, oftentimes from fear, and almost always from all three combined. [La Rochefoucauld is content to paint"}, {"id": "card_n_75558cb470fa", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_081: We can love nothing but what agrees with us, and we can only follow our taste...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "We can love nothing but what agrees with us, and we can only follow our taste or our pleasure when we prefer our friends to ourselves; nevertheless it is only by that preference that friendship can be"}, {"id": "card_n_fba06ae2fcf0", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_102: The head is ever the dupe of the heart.", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "The head is ever the dupe of the heart. [A feeble imitation of that great thought \"All folly comes from the heart.\"--Aime Martin. But Bonhome, in his L'art De Penser, says \"Plusieurs diraient en perio"}, {"id": "card_n_4caeb9be97fe", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_213: Love of glory, fear of shame, greed of fortune, the desire to make life agree...", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "Love of glory, fear of shame, greed of fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others are often causes of that bravery so vaunted among men. [Junius said"}, {"id": "card_n_fde9cbbe5cd4", "title": "La Rochefoucauld §laroch_490: We often go from love to ambition, but we never return from ambition to love.", "shelf": "classics", "surface": "secular", "snippet": "We often go from love to ambition, but we never return from ambition to love. [\"Men commence by love, finish by ambition, and do not find a quieter seat while they remain there.\"--La Bruyere: Du Coeur"}]}