"The principal point of cleverness is to know how to value things just as they deserve"
About this Quote
Cleverness is less about sparkling repartee than calibrated judgment: the art of giving each thing neither more nor less importance than it merits. To value rightly is to see through glare and scarcity, to recognize where appearances flatter and where they hide substance. Many errors in life come from mispricing. We chase applause that is cheap and ignore counsel that is costly but sound. We hoard trivial advantages and spend our reputation lavishly. The agile mind assigns proper weights, so that time, attention, trust, and risk flow toward what will truly bear fruit.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld wrote as a moralist of the 17th-century French salons, hardened by the Fronde and by the intrigues of court life. His Maxims dissect how self-love bends judgment, how vanity and interest dress themselves as virtue. From that vantage, the call to value things as they deserve is both ethical and tactical. In a world ruled by reputation, protocol, and favor, the person who appraises accurately sees which compliments bind, which alliances endure, which slights can be ignored, which battles are worth the cost. Cleverness here is close to prudence: not cynical manipulation alone, but a disciplined realism about motives, consequences, and masks.
Desert is not a mystical property; it is discerned by understanding ends, contexts, and human nature. A rumor may be loud but deserve little credence. A modest gesture may deserve high esteem because it signals character. Novelty dazzles, yet endurance is priceless. To know what things deserve, one must first know what one seeks and what one is prone to overvalue. Self-knowledge and lucidity about others are the instruments of this valuation.
The line still cuts in an age of attention markets and status signals. Cleverness is the courage to discount appearances, the patience to let true worth emerge, and the steadiness to resist both infatuation and contempt. Where valuation is right, action tends to be right; where valuation is wrong, even brilliance will misfire.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld wrote as a moralist of the 17th-century French salons, hardened by the Fronde and by the intrigues of court life. His Maxims dissect how self-love bends judgment, how vanity and interest dress themselves as virtue. From that vantage, the call to value things as they deserve is both ethical and tactical. In a world ruled by reputation, protocol, and favor, the person who appraises accurately sees which compliments bind, which alliances endure, which slights can be ignored, which battles are worth the cost. Cleverness here is close to prudence: not cynical manipulation alone, but a disciplined realism about motives, consequences, and masks.
Desert is not a mystical property; it is discerned by understanding ends, contexts, and human nature. A rumor may be loud but deserve little credence. A modest gesture may deserve high esteem because it signals character. Novelty dazzles, yet endurance is priceless. To know what things deserve, one must first know what one seeks and what one is prone to overvalue. Self-knowledge and lucidity about others are the instruments of this valuation.
The line still cuts in an age of attention markets and status signals. Cleverness is the courage to discount appearances, the patience to let true worth emerge, and the steadiness to resist both infatuation and contempt. Where valuation is right, action tends to be right; where valuation is wrong, even brilliance will misfire.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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