Nicolas Chamfort Quotes

Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.

When you want to be well-liked in the world, you have to let a lot of people teach you things that you know and they don't.

Don't you know that we must always have a place where we never go but where we think we'd be happy if we did?

He who leaves the game wins it.

There is a melancholy that stems from greatness of mind.

Pleasure can be supported by an illusion, but happiness rests upon truth.

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

One can be certain that every generally held idea, every received notion, will be an idiocy, because it has been able to appeal to a majority.

If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.

It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.

Most books today seemed to have been written overnight from books read the day before.

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

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

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

We ought to be able to combine opposites: the love of goodness with indifference to other people's opinions, a liking for work with indifference to fame, concern for our health with indifference to life.