Nicolas Chamfort

Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

All that I've learned, I've forgotten. The little that I still know, I've guessed.

Love is more pleasant than marriage for the same reason that novels are more amusing than history.

Nature never said to me: Do not be poor still less did she say: Be rich her cry to me was always: Be independent.

When a man and a woman have an overwhelming passion for each other, it seems to me, in spite of such obstacles dividing them as parents or husband, that they belong to each other in the name of Nature, and are lovers by Divine right, in spite of human convention or the laws.

Celebrity is the advantage of being known to people who we don't know, and who don't know us.

When you want to be well-liked in the world, you have to let a lot of people teach you things that you know and they don't.

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.

Pleasure can be supported by an illusion, but happiness rests upon truth.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.