Nicolas Chamfort
Nicolas 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...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth6 April 1741
CountryFrance
vanity littles sells
The great always sell their society to the vanity of the little.
names vanity giving
Vain is equivalent to empty; thus vanity is so miserable a thing, that one cannot give it a worse name than its own. It proclaims itself for what it is.
fashion vanity taste
Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich.
vanity tongue egotism
Egotism is the tongue of vanity.
pride differences vanity
The person is always happy who is in the presence of something they cannot know in full. A person as advanced far in the study of morals who has mastered the difference between pride and vanity.
french-writer laughed surely
Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is the one most surely wasted.
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.
foolish fools-and-foolishness
There are well-dressed foolish ideas, just as there are will-dressed fools.
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.
certain french-writer opinion opinions public worst
There are certain times when public opinion is the worst of all opinions.
age man
Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.
life oneself watch
The contemplative life is often miserable. One must act more, think less, and not watch oneself live.
days wasted
The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.