Chamfort
Chamfort
Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, also known as Chamfort, was a French writer, best known for his witty epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's sister, and of the Jacobin club...
money tests preoccupation
Preoccupation with money is the great test of small natures, but only a small test of great ones.
funny class two
Society is composed of two great classes, those that have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.
suicide heart suicidal
And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead (suicide note)
fire justice house
We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm.
people fame advantage
Celebrity is the advantage of being known to people who we don't know, and who don't know us.
character men enjoy
Many men and women enjoy popular esteem, not because they are known, but because they are not known.
acceptance
One must not hope to be more than one can be.
confidence love-you loving-yourself
If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.
funny morning time
Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.
friendship
Women bestow on friendship only what they borrow from love.
women heart reflection
Men's hearts and faces are always wide asunder; women's are not only in close connection, but are mirror-like in the instant power of reflection.
wrinkles together made
Wrinkles and ill-nature together made a woman hideous.
color society chameleon
We take our colors, chameleon-like, from each other.
men small-changes quality
Too elevated qualities often unfit a man for society. We do not go to market with ingots, but with silver and small change.