Nicolas Chamfort - Public Quotes

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Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.

Nicolas Chamfort
A good number of works owe their success to the mediocrity of their authors' ideas, which match the mediocrity of those of the general public.

Nicolas Chamfort
It is safe to wager that every public idea and every accepted convention is sheer foolishness, because it has suited the majority.

Nicolas Chamfort
Posterity is no more than one public which follows another. Now, you see what the public is today!

Nicolas Chamfort
Both the court and the general public give a conventional value to men and things, and then are surprised to find themselves deceived by it. This is as if arithmeticians should give a variable an arbitrary value to the figures in a sum, and then, after restoring their true and regular value in the addition, be astonished at the incorrectness of their answer.

Nicolas Chamfort
Someone was talking about the respect we owe the public. Yes, said M…., It's a question of prudence. Nobody has a high opinion of fishwives but who would dare offend them while walking through the fish market.

Nicolas Chamfort
Few people are able to appreciate a philosopher; he's almost a sort of public enemy. Faced by the various pretensions of mankind, …he says bluntly: "I'm prepared to take you only at your true value, what you're really worth." It's not easy to get people to appreciate anyone who makes such an uncompromising declaration.

Nicolas Chamfort
The public! the public! How many fools does it take to make up a public?

Nicolas Chamfort
The public is governed as it reasons; its own prerogative is foolish speech and that of its governors is foolish action.

Nicolas Chamfort
What is responsible for the success of many works is the rapport between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and the mediocrity of the public's.

Nicolas Chamfort
We may wager that any idea of the public, or any general opinion, is a folly, since it has received the approbation of a majority of the people.

Nicolas Chamfort