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There is no history worthy attention save that of free nations the history of nations under the sway of despotism is no more than a collection of anecdotes.

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
Worthy
Save
Nations
Attention
Sway
Free
Anecdotes
History
Despotism
Collection
Collections

More quotes by Nicolas Chamfort

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It is inconceivable how much wit it requires to avoid being ridiculous.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Remorse turns us against ourselves.
Nicolas Chamfort
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In love, everything is true, everything is false it is the one subject on which one cannot express an absurdity.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Do you think that revolutions are made with rose water?
Nicolas Chamfort
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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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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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Covetousness is a sort of mental gluttony, not confined to money, but craving honor, and feeding on selfishness.
Nicolas Chamfort
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The great always sell their society to the vanity of the little.
Nicolas Chamfort
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If it were not for the government, we should have nothing to laugh at in France.
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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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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Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking.
Nicolas Chamfort
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One must not hope to be more than one can be.
Nicolas Chamfort
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The art of the parenthesis is one of the greatest secrets of eloquence in Society
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.
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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Almost the whole of history is but a sequence of horrors.
Nicolas Chamfort
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Knowledge is boundless,--human capacity, limited.
Nicolas Chamfort
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If it wasn't for me, I'd do brilliantly.
Nicolas Chamfort
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He who leaves the game wins it.
Nicolas Chamfort