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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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Nicolas Chamfort
Age: 53 †
Born: 1741
Born: April 6
Died: 1794
Died: April 13
Journalist
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Politician
Writer
Clarmont-Ferrand
Public
Success
Authors
Ideas
Mediocrity
Good
Match
General
Number
Works
Numbers

More quotes by Nicolas Chamfort

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Wrinkles and ill-nature together made a woman hideous.
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It is said of a lonely man that he does not appreciate the life of society. This is like saying he hates hiking because he dislikes walking in thick forest on a dark night.
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Chance is a nickname for Providence.
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The success of many books is due to the affinity between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of the public.
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Wicked people sometimes perform good actions. I suppose they wish to see if this gives as great a feeling of pleasure as the virtuous claim for it.
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Man may aspire to virtue, but he cannot reasonably aspire to truth.
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To possess a good cognomen is a long way on the road of success in life.
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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It is children only who enjoy the present their elders either live on the memory of the past or the hope of the future.
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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.
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Society would be a charming affair if we were only interested in one another.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Many men and women enjoy popular esteem, not because they are known, but because they are not known.
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Living is a sickness to which sleep provides relief every sixteen hours. It's a palliative. The remedy is death.
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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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It is with happiness as with watches: the less complicated, the less easily deranged.
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
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Running a house should be left to innkeepers.
Nicolas Chamfort
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An author is often obscure to the reader because they proceed from the thought to expression than like the reader from the expression to the thought.
Nicolas Chamfort
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A lover is a man who tries to be more amiable than it is possible for him to be.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.
Nicolas Chamfort