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...
general good ideas man plenty soldiers
A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers
age man
Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.
misanthrope mankind forty
Whoever is not a misanthrope at forty can never have loved mankind.
men saving he-man
[Prudence] replaces [strength] by saving the man who has the misfortune of not possessing it from most occasions when it's needed.
appetite composed dinners great society
Society is composed of two great classes: those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners
knowledge last men merely passions
Passions make men live, knowledge merely makes them last
books books-and-reading overnight seem today written
Most books today seem to have been written overnight from books read that day
best eat eating picking quotations quotes
Most anthologists... of quotations are like those who eat cherries... first picking the best ones and winding up by eating everything.
days wasted
The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
wasted
The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed.
french-writer laughed surely
Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is the one most surely wasted.
appetite composed dinners great society
Society is composed of two great classes those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.
failure intelligent energy
A person of intellect without energy added to it, is a failure.
death sleep literature
Living is a sickness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It's a palliative. The remedy is death.