François de La Rochefoucauld

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), French epigrammatist, born in Paris. He took a prominent part in the court life, politics, and wars of the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. La Rochefoucauld’s political beliefs and his position in court intrigues were greatly influenced by his intimate friendships with distinguished noblewomen. Among them was Marie Madeleine, the Comtesse de La Fayette, whose own literary career he encouraged; his intellectual life was broadened by his friendship with Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, the Marquise de Sévigné. La Rochefoucauld was the author of a volume of memoirs, Les Mémoires sur la Régence d’Anne d’Autriche (Memoirs on the Regency of Anne of Austria, 1662), in which he paints a flattering and controversial picture of his own role in contemporary events. His literary reputation rests on his Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes Morales (Reflections or Moral Thoughts and Maxims, 1665), a book consisting of about 700 maxims, remarkable for their polished concision, which show the author’s distinctive awareness of the role of subconscious motivation in human behaviour. La Rochefoucauld was a moralist in the French sense, that of someone who is more concerned with analysing the motives and moral implications of human conduct than with laying down moral rules.