Nicolas Chamfort quotes - page 2

We must start human society from scratch; as Francis Bacon said, we must recreate human understanding. (Nicolas Chamfort)
[Prudence] replaces [strength] by saving the man who has the misfortune of not possessing it from most occasions when it's needed.
Nicolas Chamfort
Love, as it exists in society, is nothing but the exchange of two fantasies and the contact of two skins.
Nicolas Chamfort
Anyone who has no character is not a man, but a thing.
Nicolas Chamfort
And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead.
Nicolas Chamfort
I have three kinds of friends: those who love me, those who pay no attention to me, and those who detest me.
Nicolas Chamfort
The person is always happy who is in the presence of something they cannot know in full. A person as advanced far in the study of morals who has mastered the difference between pride and vanity.
Nicolas Chamfort
When a man and a woman have an overwhelming passion for each other, it seems to me, in spite of such obstacles dividing them as parents or husband, that they belong to each other in the name of Nature, and are lovers by Divine right, in spite of human convention or the laws.
Nicolas Chamfort
Someone was talking about the respect we owe the public. "Yes,” said M...., "It's a question of prudence. Nobody has a high opinion of fishwives but who would dare offend them while walking through the fish market.”.
Nicolas Chamfort
I once read that there's nothing worse for everyone concerned than a reign that's lasted too long. I've also heard that God is eternal.
Nicolas Chamfort
Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes. (Nicolas Chamfort)
Few people are prepared to use their reason without fear or favor, or bold enough to apply it relentlessly to every moral, political and social issue: to kings and ministers, to men in high places ... And if we don't, we're doomed to remain mediocre.
Nicolas Chamfort
The perfect man ... is in a well-lit area watching the foolish antics of people stumbling around in the dark. He can demolish with a laugh the false standards and judgments which others apply to people and things.
Nicolas Chamfort
A man well-known to be a liar had just told a most improbable story. "Sir, while I believe you,” someone said, "you must admit that it's very wrong of truth not to condescend to be more plausible.”.
Nicolas Chamfort
He was passionate and thought he was wise; I was a fool and suspected it; I was nearer to wisdom.
Nicolas Chamfort
Good taste, tact, and propriety have more in common than men of letters affect to believe. Tact is good taste applied to bearing and conduct, and propriety is good taste applied to conversation.
Nicolas Chamfort
It is a common saying that the most beautiful woman in the world can only give what she has. This is entirely false. She gives exactly what the recipient thinks he has received; for imagination fixes the value of this sort of favour.
Nicolas Chamfort
My whole life is woven of threads which are in blatant contrast to my principles. ... I love self-chosen poverty, and live among rich people; I avoid all honours, and yet some have come to me. ... I believe that illusions are necessary to man, yet live without illusion; I believe that the passions are more profitable than reason, and yet no longer know what passion is.
Nicolas Chamfort
Petty souls are more susceptible to ambition than great ones, just as straw or thatched cottages burn more easily than palaces.
Nicolas Chamfort
High society is a poor play, a bad, boring opera, made slightly better by its staging, costumes and scenery.
Nicolas Chamfort
Stubbornness equals character roughly as lust equals love. (Nicolas Chamfort)
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.”.
Nicolas Chamfort
Poverty puts crime at a discount.
Nicolas Chamfort
Real worth requires no interpreter: its everyday deeds form its emblem.
Nicolas Chamfort
Celebrity is the advantage of being known to people who we don't know, and who don't know us.
Nicolas Chamfort