Sebastien Roch Nicolas ChamfortThinkers

Bankruptcy is better than being nothing in a country where everyone is trying to be noticed.

Calumny is like some annoying wasp, against which one must make no move unless one is sure of killing it, or else it will return to the charge more furiously than ever.

Celebrity is the advantage of being known by those who do not know you.

A Courtier is a poor man who has become rich by begging.

Gambling is unwise — He who leaves the game wins it.

Legality is often more easily rendered than than legitimacy.

Living is an ailment that is relieved every sixteen hours by sleep. A palliative. Death is the cure.

Love is, as it exists in society today, merely the mingling of two fantasies and the contact of two skins.

Metaphysics is apparent quackery — what can be said of metaphysicians is much the same as what Scaliger said of the Basques: they are said to understand each other, but I do not believe it.

The Nobility is the intermediary between the king and the people, just as the hounds are the intermediary between the hunter and the hare.