MAXIMS. The 'Maxims' of La Roche foucauld furriFh he most famous body of ex amples of that po''zhed and studied condensa tion of expression to epigrammatic sparkle and brilliance in h?ch the French so delight and so excel, and of which the (Pensees) of Pascal, the 'Caracteres) of La Bruyere and the (Re of Vauvenargues are other specimens.
They are precisely what their fuller official title proclaims them: Reflections, or Sentences and Moral Maxims (
our actions, mask it as we will, is selfishness. This view of virtue and vice may owe some thing of its bitterness and pessimism to the personal temper of La Rochefoucauld, soured by disappointment after playing a restless and unsuccessful part in political and private in trigue. But it owed much also to his pene trating observation of the life of court and salon, and even those who wanted to think more generously of human nature admitted sadly the accuracy of his analysis, while all were captivated by the concision and elegance of his style. To this he gave unending care, polishing and refining his sentences, rejecting some and adding others in successive editions (1665, 1666, 1675, 1678). The standard edition is that prepared by M. Gilbert (Paris 1868). The Maxims have had many admirers among English writers, as Addison, Swift, Dr. John son and Lord Chesterfield. They have often tempted to translation. A late and complete English version is by J. W. Willis Bund and J. Hain Friswell (London 1871).