220 Quotes by Nicolas Chamfort

  • Author Nicolas Chamfort
  • Quote

    The contemplative life is often miserable. One must act more, think less, and not watch oneself live.

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  • Author Nicolas Chamfort
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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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  • Author Nicolas Chamfort
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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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  • Author Nicolas Chamfort
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    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.

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  • Author Nicolas Chamfort
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    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.

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  • Author Nicolas Chamfort
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    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.

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