220 Quotes by Nicolas Chamfort

People are governed with the head; kindness of heart is little use in chess.

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.

He who leaves the game wins it.

Most anthologists of poetry or quotations are like those who eat cherries or oysters, first picking the best and ending by eating everything.

Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.

Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.

One can be certain that every generally held idea, every received notion, will be idiocy because it has been able to appeal to the majority

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

Secrecy is best taught by starting with ourselves.