Nicolas Chamfort Quotes
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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.
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If a woman were about to proceed to her execution, she would demand a little time to perfect her toilet.
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Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.
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A person of intellect without energy added to it, is a failure.
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Society would be a charming affair if we were only interested in one another.
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Society is composed of two great classes, those that have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.
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Pleasure may come from illusion, but happiness can come only of reality.
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What one knows best is ... what one has learned not from books but as a result of books, through the reflections to which they have given rise.
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There some trifles well habited, as there are some fools well clothed.
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Conviction is the conscience of intellect.
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Men's hearts and faces are always wide asunder; women's are not only in close connection, but are mirror-like in the instant power of reflection.
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Success makes success, like money makes money.
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The best philosophical attitude to adopt towards the world is a union of the sarcasm of gaiety with the indulgence of contempt.
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He who disguises tyranny, protection, or even benefits under the air and name of friendship reminds me of the guilty priest who poisoned the sacramental bread.
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One must not hope to be more than one can be.
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The poor are the blacks of Europe.
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Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.
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Knowledge is boundless,--human capacity, limited.
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Nearly all men are slaves for the same reason that the Spartans assigned for the servitude of the Persians -- lack of power to pronounce the syllable, "No." To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only means to preserve one's freedom and one's character.
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A fool who has a flash of wit creates astonishment and scandal, like hack-horses setting out to gallop.
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Were a man to consult only his reason, who would marry? For myself, I wouldn't marry, for fear of having a son who resembled me.
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Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.
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Tis easier to make certain things legal than to make them legitimate.
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Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich.
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Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.
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Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.
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Society is divided into two classes, the shearers and the shorn.
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All that I've learned, I've forgotten. The little that I still know, I've guessed.
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Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.
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If taking vitamins doesn't keep you healthy enough, try more laughter: The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
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