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Full Idea
Virtue would not go far without vanity to bear it company.
Gist of Idea
Virtue doesn't go far without the support of vanity
Source
La Rochefoucauld (Maxims [1663], 200)
Book Ref
Rochefoucauld,La: 'Maxims' [Penguin 1959], p.59
A Reaction
Rochefoucauld's cynicism gets a bit tedious, but lovers of virtue must face up to this possibility when they consider what motivates them. At the heart of Aristotle there is a missing question, of what is so good about right-functioning and virtue.
| 7118 | La Rochefoucauld's idea of disguised self-love implies an unconscious mind [Rochefoucauld, by Sartre] |
| 7912 | Judging by effects, love looks more like hatred than friendship [Rochefoucauld] |
| 7913 | Virtue doesn't go far without the support of vanity [Rochefoucauld] |
| 7914 | To try to be wise all on one's own is folly [Rochefoucauld] |
| 7915 | Supreme cleverness is knowledge of the real value of things [Rochefoucauld] |
| 7916 | True friendship is even rarer than true love [Rochefoucauld] |
| 9299 | We are bored by people to whom we ourselves are boring [Rochefoucauld] |
| 7917 | Realising our future misery is a kind of happiness [Rochefoucauld] |