Life & Wisdom Quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Praise, in La Rochefoucauld's hands, isn’t a gift; it’s a currency. The line lands like a polite compliment with a hidden invoice attached, turning what we like to call generosity into something closer to social arbitrage. He doesn’t claim we never admire anyone. He claims admiration, when publicly performed, is usually a strategy: we laud to be noticed as laudable, we elevate to be seen as elevated.

The intent is surgical demystification. Seventeenth-century court life in France was a theater of reputations, where survival depended on reading motives under manners. A compliment at court wasn’t merely kindness; it was placement. In that environment, “praise” becomes a tool for alliance-building and self-insurance, a way to signal taste, loyalty, refinement. La Rochefoucauld’s moral psychology is less “people are evil” than “people are invested.” Our virtues often arrive with receipts.

The subtext is what makes it sting: he’s not accusing a few flatterers, he’s indicting the default setting. “Ordinarily” is doing quiet work, giving him plausible deniability while implying the exception is rare enough to be interesting. The sentence also flatters the reader’s self-image as a clear-eyed realist. If you nod along, you’re already performing the sophisticated detachment he prizes.

What makes it endure is its modern portability. Swap the court for the workplace, the group chat, the comment section, or the algorithm. Public praise still doubles as self-branding: you endorse to be seen as discerning, compassionate, “on the right side.” La Rochefoucauld catches the etiquette of virtue in the act of self-advertising.