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I first heard about François de La Rochefoucauld's classic "Maximes" sometime last year when I read a book called Navalmanack. Billionaire investor Naval Ravikant recommended it.

I immediately read up on it and ended up reading it. It's such a great book all about wisdom condensed in few lines (quotes). These quotes offer so much wisdom and a very deep dive into human nature, behavior and that of society. Mainly about how flawed they are. This book has received great praise over the centuries from greats like Frederick Nietzsche, etc and is one of the most relevant French literary works. According to Wikipedia:

Nearly all the great French critics of the 19th century wrote to some extent about La Rochefoucauld.

And it's because of this book.

The Author

_{source: wikipedia}

François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac was a French Duke who lived from 15 September 1613 to 17 March 1680.

Intro to Post

This post is a collection of all the funniest maxims or at least the ones I consider funny. Since Rochefoucauld's maxims are mainly great truths it is sure to end up being funny in many instances because the truth can be very funny. It's just like what Nobel Laureate George Bernard Shaw said on the matter:

My way of joking is to tell the truth. It's the funniest joke in the world.

😂
The quoted texts below are the maxims and plain texts are my commentaries.
The numbers next to the maxims are the numberings the maxims carry in the version I read on Gutenberg.org here is it:

Enjoy!

Rochefoucauld's Funniest Maxims

1.

LXXXIX.—It is sometimes pleasing to a husband to have a jealous wife; he hears her always speaking of the beloved object.

Commentary: Haha! Imagine a jealous wife who always bring up the people she suspects you have a thing or two to do with and the truth is you actually love some of those people or consider them attractive. Now your wife is doing you a favour by bringing them up because you derive great pleasure hearing and talking about those people 😂😂.

2.

XVII.—...Thus, when a female is adverse to us, and she turns her hate and persecution against us, self-love pronounces on her actions with all the severity of justice; it exaggerates the faults till they are enormous, and looks at her good qualities in so disadvantageous a light that they become more displeasing than her faults.

If however the same female becomes favourable to us, or certain of our interests reconcile her to us, our sole self interest gives her back the lustre which our hatred deprived her of. The bad qualities become effaced, the good ones appear with a redoubled advantage; we even summon all our indulgence to justify the war she has made upon us.

Now although all passions prove this truth, that of love exhibits it most clearly; for we may see a lover moved with rage by the neglect or the infidelity of her whom he loves, and meditating the utmost vengeance that his passion can inspire. Nevertheless as soon as the sight of his beloved has calmed the fury of his movements, his passion holds that beauty innocent; he only accuses himself, he condemns his condemnations, and by the miraculous power of selflove, he whitens the blackest actions of his mistress, and takes from her all crime to lay it on himself.

Commentary: Really hard hitting, funny and painful if this has happened to you before. For me it has happened countless times 😅.

3.

444.—Old fools are more foolish than young fools.

4.

XVI.—How shall we hope that another person will keep our secret if we do not keep it ourselves.

Commentary: 🤣🤣 So many times we have a secret and we're not comfortable keeping it to ourselves, the urge to tell someone is so great, so we tell someone, then ask them not to tell someone else 🤣. How dyou think the person would be able to overcome the urge to tell someone else when we couldn't overcome it ourselves? And we even had a great reason to overcome it which is that it is our own secret! Now we think someone who the secret doesn't belong to would do a better job? 🤣🤣.

5.

XV.—In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us.

Commentary: We're beasts! 😂

6.

59.—There are no accidents so unfortunate from which skilful men will not draw some advantage, nor so fortunate that foolish men will not turn them to their hurt.

7.

93.—Old men delight in giving good advice as a consolation for the fact that they can no longer set bad examples.

8.

110.—Nothing is given so profusely as advice.

9.

116.—Nothing is less sincere than the way of asking and giving advice. The person asking seems to pay deference to the opinion of his friend, while thinking in reality of making his friend approve his opinion and be responsible for his conduct. The person giving the advice returns the confidence placed in him by eager and disinterested zeal, in doing which he is usually guided only by his own interest or reputation.

10.

136.—There are some who never would have loved if they never had heard it spoken of.

11.

142.—As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing.

12.

149.—The refusal of praise is only the wish to be praised twice.

13.

309.—There are persons fated to be fools, who commit follies not only by choice, but who are forced by fortune to do so.

14.

366.—However we distrust the sincerity of those whom we talk with, we always believe them more sincere with us than with others.

Commentary: Really true, when you think about it, we're fond of thinking our lying friends lie more to others than they do to us.

15.

372.—Most young people think they are natural when they are only boorish and rude.

Commentary: This one really cracked me up mainly because I was surprised to see that someone said this as far back as 1665! I've seen so many memes about this made in this modern era of memes and social media, I think you have seen them too, memes about people saying they're just being themselves as an excuse to be rude and nasty.

Here's one of such memes:

source

Also, so young people have always been fond of using this excuse, keeping it real has always existed, damn! 😂 Seems it went by a different name, "natural" instead of "real".

16.

408.—The most dangerous folly of old persons who have been loveable is to forget that they are no longer so.

17.

340.—The wit of most women rather strengthens their folly than their reason.

["Women have an entertaining tattle, and sometimes wit, but for solid reasoning and good sense I never knew one in my life that had it, and who reasoned and acted consequentially for four and twenty hours together."—Lord Chesterfield, Letter 129.]

This one is more funny with that extra quote in the bracket, I found it like that in the book. Damn, what a jibe at women! 😂😂

THE END

Roll with @nevies, I run a Humor, deeper thoughts and sex talk blog here on Hive🌚

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