Original text (French)
To succeed in the world we do everything we can to appear successful already.
We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.
We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.
Truth does not do so much good in the world, as the appearance of it does evil.
All François de La Rochefoucauld quotes →
In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
O Fortune, cruellest of heavenly powers,
Why make such game of this poor life of ours?
Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: François de La Rochefoucauld (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.