"There are insults which we have to condone if we would not compromise our honour." -Marquis de Vauvenargues, Reflexions and Maxims, No. 102 The Marquis de Vauvenargues was a relative unknown in Enlightened France, but he was friends with a rather important individual during the time: Voltaire. With Voltaire's encouragement, the Marquis published an anonymous collection of essays and aphorisms that didn't gain too much notice among his contemporaries. And when the Marquis died at the young age of 32, he would have been lost to history without his ties to Voltaire. However, as Voltaire's own reputation and influence became chief among Enlightened thinkers in France, and with the French Revolution following, the Marquis' work became popular at the end of the 18th century. In the history of French literature, he is still best known for his association with Voltaire, but people still read his work today.