“What men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received; it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love.”

French aristocrat and 17th-century writer. His *Maxims* dissect human nature with razor-sharp wit, exposing contradictions in pride, love, and ambition. Often called the father of modern moral aphorisms, his work remains a timeless lens on vanity and self-interest.