Nicolas Chamfort Quotes

Some things are easier to legalize than to legitimate.

In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen, in small things they show themselves as they are

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

In a country where everyone is trying to be noticed, it is better to be bankrupt than to be nothing.

Ce que j'ai appris, je l'ai oublié ; ce que je sais, je l'ai inventé.

Vivre est une maladie, dont le sommeil nous soulage toutes les seize heures ; c’est un palliatif : la mort est le remède.

If we would please in society, we must be prepared to be taught many things we know already by people who do not know them.

Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking

La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l'on n'a pas ri.

An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living.

The moment when one loses the illusions and passions of youth often leaves regrets, but sometimes we hate the spell that deceived us. So it is that Armida burns and razes the palace where she was enchanted.

Quand on veut plaire dans le monde, il faut se résoudre à se laisser apprendre beaucoup de choses qu'on sait par des gens qui les ignorent.

On n'est point un homme d'esprit pour avoir beaucoup d'idées, comme on n'est pas un bon général pour avoir beaucoup de soldats.

Feeling creates thought, men willingly agree; but they will not so willingly agree that thought creates feeling, though this is scarcely less true.

Tout homme qui, à quarante ans, n'est pas misantrophe, n'a jamais aimé.