Nicolas Chamfort Quotes

There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom.

A lover is a man who tries to be more amiable than it is possible for him to be.

A modicum of discord is the very spice of courtship.

Marriage follows on love as smoke on flame.

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.

Tis easier to make certain things legal than to make them legitimate.

To enjoy and give enjoyment, without injury to yourself or others; this is true morality.

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.

It is when their age of passions is past that great men produce their masterpieces, just as it is after volcanic eruptions that the soil is most fertile.

In great matters, men behave as they are expected to; in little ones, as they would naturally

Obscurity and Innocence, twin sisters, escape temptations which would pierce their gossamer armor, in contact with the world.

Thought consoles us for all, and heals all. If at times it does you ill, ask it for the remedy for that ill and it will give it to you.

In order to forgive reason for the evil it has wrought on the majority of men, we must imagine for ourselves what man would be without his reason. 'Tis a necessary evil.

And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead (suicide note)

In the fine arts, as in many other things, we know well only what we have not learned.

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.

Contemptuous people are sure to be contemptible.

Philosophy, like medicine, has plenty of drugs, few good remedies, and hardly any specific cures.

The success of many books is due to the affinity between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of the public.

Though we best know and cannot deny our imperfections, it is not for us to lose our self-reliance and true manhood.

The philosopher who would fain extinguish his passions resembles the chemist who would like to let his furnace go out.

False modesty is the most decent of all lies.

The threat of a neglected cold is for doctors what the threat of purgatory is for priests-a gold mine.

To possess a good cognomen is a long way on the road of success in life.

Intelligent people make many mistakes because they cannot believe the world is really as foolish as it is.

In living and in seeing other men, the heart must break or become as bronze.

A person of intellect without energy added to it, is a failure.