Nicolas Chamfort quotes

Nicolas Chamfort was a French writer and moralist, renowned for his sharp wit and incisive maxims. His works vividly critiqued the social and political atmosphere of his era, especially during the French Revolution. He is remembered as one of the most brilliant and sardonic voices among the French Enlightenment thinkers. Here are 113 of his quotes:

Conviction is the conscience of the mind. (Nicolas Chamfort)
Love is more pleasant than marriage for the same reason that novels are more amusing than history. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Society is composed of two great classes those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
All passions are exaggerated, otherwise they would not be passions. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
The art of the parenthesis is one of the great secrets of eloquence in Society. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
The days most wasted are those during which we have not laughed. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
The contemplative life is often miserable. One must act more, think less, and not watch oneself live. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Success makes success, like money makes money. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools. (Nicolas Chamfort)
Some things are easier to legalize than to legitimate. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Pleasure may come from illusion, but happiness can come only of reality. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Public opinion is the worst of all opinions. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Women bestow on friendship only what they borrow from love. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Men whose only concern is other people's opinion of them are like actors who put on a poor performance to win the applause of people of poor taste; some of them would be capable of good acting in front of a good audience. A decent man plays his part to the best of his ability, regardless of the taste of the gallery. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
A good number of works owe their success to the mediocrity of their authors' ideas, which match the mediocrity of those of the general public. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Running a house should be left to innkeepers. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
A man begins every stage of his life as a novice. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Most anthologists of poetry or quotations are like those who eat cherries or oysters, first picking the best and ending by eating everything. (Nicolas Chamfort)
Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
In the world you have three sorts of friends: your friends who love you, your friends who do not care about you and your friends who hate you. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort
Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid. View quote
Nicolas Chamfort