Nicolas Chamfort Quotes

Les nouveaux amis que nous faisons après un certain âge, et par lesquels nous cherchons à remplacer ceux que nous avons perdus, sont à nos anciens amis ce que les yeux de verre, les dents postiches et les jambes de bois sont aux véritables yeux, aux dents naturelles et aux jambes de chair et d'os.

Having lots of ideas doesn’t mean you’re clever, any more than having lots of soldiers means you’re a good general.

The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed.

L'ambition prend aux petites âmes plus facilement qu'aux grandes, comme le feu prend plus aisément à la paille, aux chaumières qu'aux palais.

Living is a sickness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It's a palliative. The remedy is death.

I asked M.—why he'd turned down the offer of a particular post. “I didn't want a post where the office is more important than the holder of it,” he replied.

Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.

La Société n'est pas, comme on le croit d'ordinaire, le développement de la Nature, mais bien sa décomposition et sa refonte entière. C'est un second édifice, bâti avec les décombres du premier.

A devout and naïve Christian was admonishing those who questioned the articles of faith. “A true Christian must never examine the things he's told to believe, gentlemen,” he said. “It's like taking a pill: if you chew it, it's so bitter you'll never get it down.”

Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.

There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools

بهتر است انسان‌ها را همانطور ک هستند بپذیریم، ن اینکه تصویر غیرواقعی از آنچه نیستند بسازیم.

It is passion that makes man live; wisdom makes one only last.

Paris, a city of gaieties and pleasures, where four-fifths of the inhabitants die of grief.

Anyone placed at exactly the same distance between yourself and your enemy will always appear closer to your enemy.