WRITER

François de La Rochefoucauld

1613 - 1680

Photo of François de La Rochefoucauld

Icon of person François de La Rochefoucauld

François de La Rochefoucauld, 2nd Duke of La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (; French: [fʁɑ̃swa d(ə) la ʁɔʃfuko]; 15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was an accomplished French moralist of the era of French Classical literature and author of Maximes and Memoirs, the only two works of his dense literary œuvre published. His Maximes portrays the callous nature of human conduct, with a cynical attitude towards putative virtue and avowals of affection, friendship, love, and loyalty. Leonard Tancock regards Maximes as "one of the most deeply felt, most intensely lived texts in French literature", with his "experience, his likes and dislikes, sufferings and petty spites ... crystallized into absolute truths." Born in Paris in 1613, at a time when the royal court was vacillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplar of the accomplished seventeenth-century nobleman. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. François de La Rochefoucauld is the 299th most popular writer (down from 263rd in 2019), the 333rd most popular biography from France (down from 306th in 2019) and the 49th most popular French Writer.

François de la Rochefoucauld is most famous for his maxims on human nature.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of François de La Rochefoucauld by language

Loading...

Among WRITERS

Among writers, François de La Rochefoucauld ranks 299 out of 7,302. Before him are Bram Stoker, Walt Whitman, Alfonso X of Castile, Paul Auster, Karen Blixen, and Alphonse Daudet. After him are Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Guillaume de Machaut, Arthur Miller, Shams Tabrizi, Czesław Miłosz, and Alberto Moravia.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1613, François de La Rochefoucauld ranks 1. After him are André Le Nôtre, Gerrit Dou, Claude Perrault, Khushal Khattak, Luisa de Guzmán, John George II, Elector of Saxony, Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Jean François Paul de Gondi, Mattia Preti, Giovanni Pietro Bellori, and Bartholomeus van der Helst. Among people deceased in 1680, François de La Rochefoucauld ranks 2. Before him is Gian Lorenzo Bernini. After him are Athanasius Kircher, Shivaji, Kateri Tekakwitha, Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, Nicolas Fouquet, Raimondo Montecuccoli, Willem Claesz. Heda, Jan Swammerdam, Samuel Butler, and Ferdinand Bol.

Others Born in 1613

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1680

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In France

Among people born in France, François de La Rochefoucauld ranks 333 out of 6,770. Before him are Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot (1748), Georges-Eugène Haussmann (1809), Charlotte Corday (1768), John the Fearless (1371), John I of France (1316), and Alphonse Daudet (1840). After him are William Longsword (893), Elisabeth of France (1602), Édouard Daladier (1884), Guillaume de Machaut (1300), Chlothar I (498), and Salome Zourabichvili (1952).

Others born in France

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, François de La Rochefoucauld ranks 49. Before him are Annie Ernaux (1940), Prosper Mérimée (1803), Germaine de Staël (1766), Pierre Corneille (1606), Patrick Modiano (1945), and Alphonse Daudet (1840). After him are Guillaume de Machaut (1300), Chrétien de Troyes (1135), J. M. G. Le Clézio (1940), Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (1749), Antonin Artaud (1896), and Héloïse (1101).

French born Writers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous