Welcome to my Rochefoucauld pages!
François de La Rochefoucauld
1613-1680
There is now a version of the
original Maxims in English on this site, via Moral Maxims and a file
with my own aphoristic comments to selected maxims.
The present second edition
of 2009 differs from the previous first one (that dates back to
1997) in that there now is also an English version of Rochefoucauld's
maxims, and not just my reactions to some of his aphorisms.
The English version is derived
from the version at
Gutenberg.org (this is the link I used), which was translated by
Friswell and Bund, but my version is not identical with it,
since I have removed the translators' comments and quotations
from Rochefoucauld's text, and also mostly from my comments, although I
have retained a few, because they are to the point.
In Rochefoucauld's text and in my comments you will find an
underlined star as * that (when blue or red) will lead you to my
comment on the maxim or to a comment by the translators, and similarly
in my comments from the comment back to the original at the place of
the aphorism.
Finally, I should remark that
(1) the edition I wrote my comments to in fact is that in the Penguin
Classics, which is not the one I use as Rochefoucauld's text; (2) my
comments are almost wholly the same as in the first edition; (3) you
can also read my comments instead of Rochefoucauld, and use the links
provided to get to his text, instead of the other way around; and you
find my brief appraisal of Rochefoucald's text at the end of his text.
I wish you pleasurable and
instructive reading and computing!