| Title: | Sincerity, frankness, naïveté, ingenuousness |
| Original Title: | Sincérité, franchise, naïveté, ingénuité |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 15 (1765), p. 207 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Susannah Genty-Waksberg [Columbia University] |
| Subject terms: |
Grammar
Synonyms
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| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.213 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Sincerity, frankness, naïveté, ingenuousness." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Susannah Genty-Waksberg. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2010. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.213>. Trans. of "Sincérité, franchise, naïveté, ingénuité," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 15. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Sincerity, frankness, naïveté, ingenuousness." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Susannah Genty-Waksberg. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.213 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Sincérité, franchise, naïveté, ingénuité," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 15:207 (Paris, 1765). |
Sincerity, frankness, naïveté, ingenuousness
Sincerity, frankness, naïveté, ingenuousness. Sincerity prevents a person from saying something other than what he is thinking; it is a virtue. Frankness causes a person to say what he is thinking; it is a natural effect. Naïveté causes a person to freely say what he is thinking; this sometimes results from a lack of reflection.
Ingenuousness causes a person to confess what he knows and feels; it is often a foolish mistake.
A sincere man does not wish to deceive at all. A frank man would not know how to conceal the truth. A naïve man is hardly likely to flatter. An ingenuous man does not know how to hide anything.
Sincerity is of the greatest merit in the commerce of the heart. Frankness facilitates in the conduct of civil affairs. Naïveté often leads to a lack of politesse. Ingenuousness leads to sins against prudence.
The sincere are always estimable. The frank please everyone. The naïve sometimes offend. The ingenuous betray themselves.
I will not add anything to these remarks of the author of French synonyms, but I refer, for specifics, to the entries Frankness, Ingenuousness, Naïveté, Sincerity.