Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Quotes
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Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred.
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What clever man has ever needed to commit a crime? Crime is the last resort of political half-wits.
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The rich man despises those who flatter him too much, and hates those who do not flatter him at all.
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Too much sensibility creates unhappiness and too much insensibility creates crime.
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Never speak ill of yourself, your friends will always say enough on that subject.
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The art of putting the right men in the right places is first in the science of government; but that of finding places for the discontented is the most difficult.
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Only a man who has loved a woman of genius can appreciate what happiness there is in loving a fool.
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Since the masses are always eager to believe something, for their benefit nothing is so easy to arrange as facts.
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Show me another pleasure like dinner which comes every day and lasts an hour.
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Regimes may fall and fail, but I do not.
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A married man with a family will do anything for money.
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Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.
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Mistrust first impulses; they are nearly always good.
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To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool, than to discover who is a clever man.
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An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public.
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If you wish to be popular in society consent to be taught many things you already know.
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I found there a country with thirty-two religions and only one sauce.
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A clever woman often compromises her husband; a stupid woman only compromises herself.
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The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence.
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Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts. [Fr., La parole a ete donnce a l'homme pour deguiser sa pensee.]
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Society is divided into two classes: the shearers and the shorn. We should always be with the former against the latter.
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Love of glory can only create a great hero; contempt of glory creates a great man.
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A woman will sometimes forgive the man who tries to seduce her, but never the man who misses an opportunity when offered.
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Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means. [Fr., Qui n'a pas vecu dans les annees voisines de 1789 ne sait pas ce que c'est le palisir de vivre.]