Ben Wilson

However, like by removing the veneer of fake friendship, fake love, fake virtue, what you get at is the real, true, beautiful, pure thing. So for example, he writes of friends, of friendship, most friends sicken us of friendship, most devotees of devotion. Okay. That's incredibly harsh. Most friends sicken us of friendship.

In other words, like most friends make us sour on the entire idea of friendship. It's an incredibly cynical thing to say about friendship. And yet he also says a true friend is the greatest of all goods and that of which we think least of acquiring. So by kind of dissing on friendship, he's not saying that friendship is actually bad. The entire concept is fake and not worth it. No, no, no.

In other words, like most friends make us sour on the entire idea of friendship. It's an incredibly cynical thing to say about friendship. And yet he also says a true friend is the greatest of all goods and that of which we think least of acquiring. So by kind of dissing on friendship, he's not saying that friendship is actually bad. The entire concept is fake and not worth it. No, no, no.

What he's saying is, yes, most friendship is fake. And it's incredibly rare to find real friendship. But when you do, it's the most valuable thing of all. And so it's worth fighting through all that falsity and fakeness and pretense in order to get to the real thing. Because the real thing is so valuable and so beautiful and so worth acquiring. He also writes very similarly of the idea of love.

What he's saying is, yes, most friendship is fake. And it's incredibly rare to find real friendship. But when you do, it's the most valuable thing of all. And so it's worth fighting through all that falsity and fakeness and pretense in order to get to the real thing. Because the real thing is so valuable and so beautiful and so worth acquiring. He also writes very similarly of the idea of love.

So he writes of love. There are some who never would have loved if they had not heard it spoken of. I love that. In other words, many people are just memed into love. It's something you do because you're supposed to do it. But all these people, they never feel that natural, true, burning passion, that overwhelming desire that intoxicates you.

So he writes of love. There are some who never would have loved if they had not heard it spoken of. I love that. In other words, many people are just memed into love. It's something you do because you're supposed to do it. But all these people, they never feel that natural, true, burning passion, that overwhelming desire that intoxicates you.

But he's trying to dig through that self-deception and self-interest and that pretense in order to find real true love. Okay, so he writes of love, if there is a pure love exempt from the mixture of our other passions, it is that which is concealed at the bottom of the heart and of which even ourselves, we are ignorant. So again, it's similar to friendship. Both are mostly fake.

But he's trying to dig through that self-deception and self-interest and that pretense in order to find real true love. Okay, so he writes of love, if there is a pure love exempt from the mixture of our other passions, it is that which is concealed at the bottom of the heart and of which even ourselves, we are ignorant. So again, it's similar to friendship. Both are mostly fake.

But when you find the real thing, it's worth trying to get to at the bottom of all these other passions because it's incredibly beautiful and worthwhile. So I think Rochefoucault is uniquely situated to see through these pretenses because of his background. This is a guy who was... Like an alpha Chad, for lack of a better term. An apex predator.

But when you find the real thing, it's worth trying to get to at the bottom of all these other passions because it's incredibly beautiful and worthwhile. So I think Rochefoucault is uniquely situated to see through these pretenses because of his background. This is a guy who was... Like an alpha Chad, for lack of a better term. An apex predator.

He was fighting, playing, scheming, seducing, competing. And frankly, so many so-called philosophers and scholars are really just building elaborate justifications for their own existence. Justifications for why they are actually better and more virtuous than those who are richer, stronger, better looking, and more fortunate than they themselves are.

He was fighting, playing, scheming, seducing, competing. And frankly, so many so-called philosophers and scholars are really just building elaborate justifications for their own existence. Justifications for why they are actually better and more virtuous than those who are richer, stronger, better looking, and more fortunate than they themselves are.

This motivation occurs mostly on a subconscious level. So I think philosophers themselves are maybe not aware of the reason for what they do, but Rochefoucault is able to see straight through this because he is the rich playboy aristocrat and therefore doesn't need to justify himself.

This motivation occurs mostly on a subconscious level. So I think philosophers themselves are maybe not aware of the reason for what they do, but Rochefoucault is able to see straight through this because he is the rich playboy aristocrat and therefore doesn't need to justify himself.

He writes, quote, the contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them. It was a secret to guard themselves against the degradation of poverty. It was a back way by which to arrive at that distinction, which they could not gain by riches. Okay?

He writes, quote, the contempt of riches in philosophers was only a hidden desire to avenge their merit upon the injustice of fortune by despising the very goods of which fortune had deprived them. It was a secret to guard themselves against the degradation of poverty. It was a back way by which to arrive at that distinction, which they could not gain by riches. Okay?

And, you know, I've known a lot of academics in my life, and I think there's a lot of truth. That's all I'll say. I think there's a lot of truth in what he said. Similarly, he writes of the weak and impotent who praise their own virtue. Quote, "...no one should be praised for his goodness if he has not strength enough to be wicked."

And, you know, I've known a lot of academics in my life, and I think there's a lot of truth. That's all I'll say. I think there's a lot of truth in what he said. Similarly, he writes of the weak and impotent who praise their own virtue. Quote, "...no one should be praised for his goodness if he has not strength enough to be wicked."

All other goodness is but too often an idleness or powerlessness of will. All right? And how many of us do this? Men who boast of their faithfulness when in truth, no woman would ever pursue them. Men who tut that power corrupts when they have never had any opportunity to have power anyway. So that is one of my top takeaways from the philosophy of Rochefoucauld. Be honest with yourself.