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False modesty is the most decent of all lies.

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
Modesty
Hypocrisy
Decent
False
Lies
Lying

More quotes by Nicolas Chamfort

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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.
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It is with happiness as with watches: the less complicated, the less easily deranged.
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A lover is a man who tries to be more amiable than it is possible for him to be.
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Calumny is like the wasp which worries you, and which it is not best to try to get rid of unless you are sure of slaying it for otherwise it returns to the charge more furious than ever.
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Most anthologists of poetry or quotations are like those who eat cherries or oysters, first picking the best and ending by eating everything.
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The great always sell their society to the vanity of the little.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Chance is a nickname for Providence.
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She commands who is blest with indifference.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Be my brother or I will kill you.
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[Prudence] replaces [strength] by saving the man who has the misfortune of not possessing it from most occasions when it's needed.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Education must have two foundations --morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defense for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists.
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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.
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A good number of works owe their success to the mediocrity of their authors' ideas, which match the mediocrity of those of the general public.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Some things are easier to legalize than to legitimate.
Nicolas Chamfort
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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.
Nicolas Chamfort
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The philosopher who would fain extinguish his passions resembles the chemist who would like to let his furnace go out.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Do you think that revolutions are made with rose water?
Nicolas Chamfort
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Though we best know and cannot deny our imperfections, it is not for us to lose our self-reliance and true manhood.
Nicolas Chamfort
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There some trifles well habited, as there are some fools well clothed.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Intelligent people make many mistakes because they cannot believe the world is really as foolish as it is.
Nicolas Chamfort