Maxims

Main Ideas

• Human nature is imperfect, characterized mainly by selfishness, hypocrisy, and vanity.
• Reflections on power, influence, and politics, revealing their true nature and motives.
• Critique of the morals of the 17th-century aristocracy and society, exposing their hypocrisy and vices.
• Reflections on friendship and love, their fickleness and dependence on human weaknesses and circumstances.
• Understanding happiness as an inner state, independent of external circumstances and others' opinions.
• Analysis of the human mind, fears, and hopes, showing the contradictions and volatility of human desires.