Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Quotes
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Society would be a charming affair if we were only interested in one another.
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An author is often obscure to the reader because they proceed from the thought to expression than like the reader from the expression to the thought.
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A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers.
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Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.
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Your intelligence often bears the same relation to your heart as the library of a chateau does to its owner.
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Society ... is nothing more than the war of a thousand petty opposed interests, an eternal strife of all the vanities, which, turn in turn wounded and humiliated one by the other, intercross, come into collision, and on the morrow expiate the triumph of the eve in the bitterness of defeat. To live alone, to remain unjostled in this miserable struggle, where for a moment one draws the eyes of the spectators, to be crushed a moment later -- this is what is called being a nonentity, having no existence. Poor humanity!
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The contact of two epidermises.
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False modesty is the most decent of all lies.
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Secrecy is best taught by starting with ourselves.
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Marriage, as practised by high society, is arranged indecency.
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Women of the world crave excitement.
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Love, a pleasant folly; ambition, a serious stupidity.
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People are governed with the head; kindness of heart is little use in chess.
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It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.
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Woman's weakness, not man's merit, oftenest gains the suitor's victory.
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It is said of a lonely man that he does not appreciate the life of society. This is like saying he hates hiking because he dislikes walking in thick forest on a dark night.
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Preoccupation with money is the great test of small natures, but only a small test of great ones.
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Society is divided into two classes, the shearers and the shorn.
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Be my brother or I will kill you.
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And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead (suicide note)
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How many fools does it take to make up a public?
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Every woman in choosing a lover takes more account of the way in which other women regard the man than of her own.
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To enjoy and give enjoyment, without injury to yourself or others; this is true morality.
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Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.