Painterly silver hand mirror reflecting a bright window beside a lidded vessel and rumpled grey fabric.

Original artwork, not a still

Maxim 269

François de la Rochefoucauld

Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

This maxim suggests self-awareness has limits, proposing that most people lack the clarity to fully recognize the harm they cause. It's a wry, unsparing observation about human blind spots, implying moral insight into one's own faults is rarer and harder-won than we'd like to believe.

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