La Rochefoucauld - Collected Maxims & Other Reflections

François de La Rochefoucauld - Collected Maxims & Other Reflections (Oxford World's Classics, 2007). Translated with an Introduction and Notes by E. H. and A. M. Blackmore, and Francine Giguère.

ISBN: 9780199540006 | 400 pages | Bilingual edition | PDF


FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1613-1680) was a noted French author and remains a towering figure in French literature. His famous maxims are deceptively brief, insidiously easy to read, and famously witty. Shrewd and penetrating, they encapsulate uncomfortable and everlasting truths about the human condition, and have influenced writers, thinkers, and public figures as various as Voltaire, Proust, de Gaulle, Nietzsche, and Conan Doyle.

This bilingual edition is the fullest collection of La Rochefoucauld's writings ever published in English, including all the maxims and the first complete translation of the Réflexions diverses (Miscellaneous Reflections). The volume includes an excellent introduction that surveys La Rochefoucauld's life, the genesis of his work, its form and content, and its influence, as well as comprehensive explanatory notes. A table of alternative maxim numbers and an extensive and invaluable index of topics help the reader to locate any maxim quickly and to appreciate the full range of La Rochefoucauld's thought on any of his favorite themes, such as self-love, vice and virtue, love and jealousy, friendship and self-interest, passion and pride.