La Rochefoucauld, wounded veteran of the French civil wars, retired to write these observations on human nature, and the result is three hundred pages of elegant cynicism. Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers. We have all enough strength to bear the misfortunes of others. The sentences are brief, polished, devastating. La Rochefoucauld saw through everything, including himself. The maxims have never gone out of fashion because human nature has not improved. We read them and feel exposed. We share them because we want others exposed too. The wit protects against despair. Barely.