Nicolas Chamfort Quotes

Society is divided into two classes, the shearers and the shorn.

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

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

There are more people who wish to be loved than there are who are willing to love.

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

Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.

Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.

Man reaches each stage of his life as a novice.

Do not suppose opportunity will knock twice at your door.

Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.

There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men.

It is children only who enjoy the present; their elders either live on the memory of the past or the hope of the future.

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.

Where violence reigns, reason is weak.

Men of reason have endured;men of passion have lived.

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.

Whoever is not a misanthrope at forty can never have loved mankind.

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.

False modesty is the most decent of all lies.

We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm.

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

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

The best philosophical attitude to adopt towards the world is a union of the sarcasm of gaiety with the indulgence of contempt.

If it wasn't for me, I'd do brilliantly.

Spero Speroni explains admirably how an author who writes very clearly for himself is often obscure to his readers. "It is," he says, "because the author proceeds from the thought to the expression, and the reader from the expression to the thought.