{"product_id":"reflections-or-sentences-and-moral-maxims","title":"Mietelmiä","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat if your finest qualities hide motives you would rather not admit?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims, François de La Rochefoucauld turns short, sharp sayings toward a difficult question: why do we act as we do? His central idea is self-love, the wish to please and protect ourselves. He looks beneath admired behavior and asks whether virtue is always what it seems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book moves through pride and vanity, love and friendship, luck, courage and age. Behind its dry wit stands a man familiar with court intrigue, civil war and broken loyalties. Most maxims take only a sentence or two, but each invites you to pause over the distance between the motives we claim and those we prefer to hide.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eInside this book\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSelf-love beneath the surface\u003c\/strong\u003e – Explore the wish to please and protect ourselves that La Rochefoucauld finds behind noble behavior.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVirtue under scrutiny\u003c\/strong\u003e – Watch admired qualities face the unsettling possibility that they conceal less admirable motives.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe hunger for praise\u003c\/strong\u003e – Recognize how pride and vanity shape the image we present to others.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLove without easy comfort\u003c\/strong\u003e – Consider love and friendship through observations that question how pure our feelings really are.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMerit meets fortune\u003c\/strong\u003e – Ask how much success belongs to courage and how much depends on luck.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003ePerfect for readers who enjoy dry wit, brief bursts of thought and a candid look at human motives, including their own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOpen the first page now, and let a few sharp sentences put your own motives to the test.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Library of Alexandria Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59534650573148,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1027\/9442\/8764\/files\/00777_en_ebook-front_c15.jpg?v=1792175007","url":"https:\/\/libraryofalexandria.com\/fi\/products\/reflections-or-sentences-and-moral-maxims","provider":"The Library of Alexandria","version":"1.0","type":"link"}