Nicolas Chamfort

Sometimes when a person sees the roguery of poor people and the thievery of people in high positions, he is tempted to regard society as a forest full of robbers, the most dangerous of which are the policemen that are set up to stop the others.

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

And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead. [last words]

If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.

بهتر است انسان‌ها را همانطور ک هستند بپذیریم، ن اینکه تصویر غیرواقعی از آنچه نیستند بسازیم.

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

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.

When you want to be well-liked in the world, you have to let a lot of people teach you things that you know and they don't.

It is passion that makes man live; wisdom makes one only last.

Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.

In great matters, men reveal themselves as they find it appropriate to do so; but, in small matters, they reveal themselves as they truly are.

We ought to be able to combine opposites: the love of goodness with indifference to other people's opinions, a liking for work with indifference to fame, concern for our health with indifference to life.

The moment when one loses the illusions and passions of youth often leaves regrets, but sometimes we hate the spell that deceived us. So it is that Armida burns and razes the palace where she was enchanted.

We must know how to perform the foolishness our characters require.

Tout homme qui, à quarante ans, n'est pas misantrophe, n'a jamais aimé.