Who lives without folly is not so wise as he thinks.

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680), a French aristocrat shaped by court life, political intrigue, and the moral disillusionments of the Fronde, is best known for his terse maxims on human motives. This line belongs to the tradition of his "Maximes," first published in 1665 and repeatedly revised in later editions. Written for a milieu that prized wit and self-command, the maxims often puncture pretensions to virtue by stressing vanity, self-love, and the inevitability of human weakness. The remark about “folly” reflects his skeptical moral psychology: lived experience, including one’s own errors, is part of what makes genuine wisdom possible.

The aphorism argues that a life entirely free of folly is not evidence of superior wisdom but a sign of self-deception. La Rochefoucauld implies that mistakes, irrational impulses, and lapses in judgment are normal features of being human; to deny them is to misunderstand oneself. Wisdom, in this view, is less a spotless record than an honest awareness of one’s limitations and susceptibility to error. The maxim also carries a social sting: those who claim to have avoided folly may simply be blind to their own vanity or may be redefining their follies as virtues. True prudence includes humility and self-knowledge.