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What one knows best is ... what one has learned not from books but as a result of books, through the reflections to which they have given rise.

Nicolas Chamfort

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Nicolas Chamfort
Age: 53 †
Born: 1741
Born: April 6
Died: 1794
Died: April 13
Journalist
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Politician
Writer
Clarmont-Ferrand
Result
Learned
Results
Books
Given
Best
Reflections
Book
Rise
Reflection

More quotes by Nicolas Chamfort

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Society would be a charming affair if we were only interested in one another.
Nicolas Chamfort
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In the library of the world men have hitherto been ranged according to the form, and the binding the time is coming when they will take rank and order according to their contents and intrinsic merits.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Remorse turns us against ourselves.
Nicolas Chamfort
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There some trifles well habited, as there are some fools well clothed.
Nicolas Chamfort
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He who disguises tyranny, protection, or even benefits under the air and name of friendship reminds me of the guilty priest who poisoned the sacramental bread.
Nicolas Chamfort
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We must start human society from scratch as Francis Bacon said, we must recreate human understanding.
Nicolas Chamfort
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The best philosophical attitude to adopt towards the world is a union of the sarcasm of gaiety with the indulgence of contempt.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Nearly all men are slaves for the same reason that the Spartans assigned for the servitude of the Persians -- lack of power to pronounce the syllable, No. To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only means to preserve one's freedom and one's character.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Knowledge is boundless,--human capacity, limited.
Nicolas Chamfort
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A modicum of discord is the very spice of courtship.
Nicolas Chamfort
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All passions exaggerate and they are passions only because they do exaggerate.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Most books today seemed to have been written overnight from books read the day before.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Pleasure may come from illusion, but happiness can come only of reality.
Nicolas Chamfort
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There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men.
Nicolas Chamfort
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If taking vitamins doesn't keep you healthy enough, try more laughter: The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
Nicolas Chamfort
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He who leaves the game wins it.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Every woman in choosing a lover takes more account of the way in which other women regard the man than of her own.
Nicolas Chamfort
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The majority of the books of our time give one the impression of having been manufactured in a day out of books read the day before.
Nicolas Chamfort