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Full Idea
To try to be wise all on one's own is sheer folly.
Gist of Idea
To try to be wise all on one's own is folly
Source
La Rochefoucauld (Maxims [1663], 231)
Book Ref
Rochefoucauld,La: 'Maxims' [Penguin 1959], p.64
A Reaction
I agree strongly with this. There are counter-examples, of whom Spinoza may be the greatest, and Nietzsche thought that philosophy was essentially a solitary business, but most of us are not Spinoza or Nietzsche.
| 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] |