Quote

Someone has said that to plagiarise from the ancients is to play the pirate beyond the Equator, but that to steal from the moderns is to pick pockets at street corners.

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
Play
Stealing
Corners
Pick
Moderns
Picks
Equator
Street
Ancients
Streets
Pirate
Beyond
Steal
Someone
Pockets

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Egotism is the tongue of vanity.
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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.
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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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Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.
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There are more people who wish to be loved than there are who are willing to love.
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Most benefactors are like unskillful generals who take the city and leave the citadel intact.
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Man may aspire to virtue, but he cannot reasonably aspire to truth.
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Contact with the world either breaks or hardens the heart.
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All passions exaggerate and they are passions only because they do exaggerate.
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Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich.
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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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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.
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We justly consider women to be weaker than ourselves, and yet we are governed by them.
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It is among uneducated women that we may look for the most confirmed gossips. Goethe tells us there is nothing more frightful than bustling ignorance.
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There is as much expression in the feet as in the hands.
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We need to be just before we are generous, as we need shirts before ruffles.
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Do you think that revolutions are made with rose water?
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Remorse turns us against ourselves.
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One must not hope to be more than one can be.
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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