writer, best known for his witty epigram
s and aphorism
s. He was secretary of Louis XVI
's sister, and of the Jacobin club
.
He was born Nicolas-Sébastien Roch (or Sébastien-Roch Nicolas), Clermont-Ferrand
, Puy-de-Dôme
, according to a baptismal certificate found among his papers, to a grocer
named Nicolas. A journey to Paris
resulted in the boy's obtaining a bursary at the Collège des Grassins (a secondary school).
La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l'on n'a pas ri
Quiconque n'a pas de caractère n'est pas un homme, c'est une chose.
Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
The only thing that stops God sending a second Flood is that the first one was useless.
We must start human society from scratch; as Francis Bacon said, we must recreate human understanding.
La pensée console de tout et remédie à tout. Si quelquefois elle vous fait du mal, demandez-lui le reméde du mal qu'elle vous a fait, elle vous le donnera.
Most anthologists of poetry or quotations are like those who eat cherries or oysters, first picking the best and ending by eating everything.