Rochefoucauld was soon to undergo a bitter disappointment. Heres an excerpt from the introduction to an 1871 translation of the maxims. Book from the collections of university of michigan language english. Holland the translators preface the preface to the reader.
Hopefully they will give you a taste of his style, as well as insights on how to more deftly navigate a world that still remarkably resembles the machinations of a french royal court. Voltaire reported that the french knew these maxims by heart. Excellent translation into english and expertly organized material. By this time, louis xiv had reached his majority and things settled down. Like in the human heart one generation of passions follows another. Other articles where maxims and moral reflections is discussed. All the translations are confined exclusively to the maxims, none include the reflections.
This early english translation of the pillar of french. Francois was born in paris, france, and belonged to one of the most illustrious families of the french noblesse. The first english translation was done in 1909 by geo. In england, john dryden, alexander pope, and jonathan swift produced some of the most memorable epigrams of their time. Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples log in.
Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and fans the bonfire. Collected maxims and other reflections, 2008, 400 pages, fran. He writes in the preface to the first edition that these reflections on human conduct will probably. Some apology must be made for an attempt to translate the untranslatable.
Blackmore, and francine giguere oxford worlds classics. This edition includes the 504 maxims of the definitive, fifth edition of 1678, along with 7 other maxims which were either withdrawn from earlier editions or published posthumously. He is a man for our own impatient, distracted times. Or, sentences and moral maxims our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised. Now, for the first time, scholars of anglofrench literary relations can read each maxim in this period translation together with its french original. Though so often translated, there is not a complete english edition of the maxims and reflections.
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