Life & Wisdom Quote by Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Self-denial, in La Rochefoucauld's hands, is rarely virtue; it is strategy. “When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time” skewers a social maneuver that still reads as painfully current: the coy refusal that isn’t humility but appetite wearing a better outfit. The line works because it turns a seemingly private emotion into a public transaction. To “disclaim” praise is not to reject it; it’s to renegotiate its terms, to invite the room to insist, to upgrade a compliment into a chorus.

La Rochefoucauld wrote in the pressure cooker of 17th-century French court life, where reputation was currency and politeness served as camouflage for ambition. His Maximes are essentially field notes from a culture that demanded self-control while rewarding self-display. In that world, modesty becomes performative because everything is performative; the safest way to ask for attention is to pretend you don’t want it. The subtext is bleakly comic: even our moral poses are porous, and the ego leaks through.

The brilliance is the “second time.” Not “more praise,” but praise repeated, confirmed, socially ratified. One compliment can be a person’s opinion; two is consensus, a small proof of status. La Rochefoucauld isn’t warning against compliments so much as puncturing the myth that we can cleanly separate sincerity from self-interest. He forces the reader to notice the hidden choreography in everyday grace.