The Cynics Breviary, The Maxims and Anecdotes from Nicolas de Chamfort

by Nicolas Chamfort

As regards form, Chamfort’s pensées are well nigh perfect. He had of course the advantage of writing them in the language best fitted for the purpose, but even this allowed, they are masterpieces of pregnant brevity. “Those people,” said Balzac of Chamfort and his contemporary Rivarol, “put whole volumes into a single bon mot, while nowadays ’tis a marvel if we find a bon mot in a volume.” This is the extravagance of praise. In more measured terms John Stuart Mill and Schopenhauer expressed their admiration of the genius displayed in Chamfort’s pensées, those “flèches acérées,” to quote Sainte-Beuve, “qui arrivent brusquement et sifflent encore.” Yes, for, after all, we have not made such wonderful progress since Chamfort’s day, but that some of these keen arrows of his find their mark still.

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Genres: Philosophy, French Literature, France, Essays, Nonfiction

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, also known as Chamfort was a French writer, best known for his witty epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's sister, and of the Jacobin club.

Reviews

[Eleftherios Makedonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

- "Society, what people call the world, is nothing more than the war of a thousand petty opposed interests".
- "... according to the Scriptures the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God-I believe it is rather the fear of,men".
- "... lack of power to pronounce the syllable, No. To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only two means to preserve one's freedom and one's character".
- "HOPE is but a charlatan that ceases not to deceive us. For myself happiness only began when I had lost it. I would fain inscribe upon the gate of Paradise the line that Dante wrote upon that of Hell-"Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate".
- "THAT tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Bible is a fine allegory. Is it not intended to signify that when one has penetrated to the depths of things, the consequent loss of illusions brings about the death of the soul-that is to say a complete detachment from all that moves and interests other men?"

Shall I quote more?? (Probably in the future)... A reaaally suberb book! The Bible of any cynic -- in the sense of 'realist', 'hopeless' or 'on the way of getting rid of all illusions -- man!

[CivilWar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicolas Chamfort, though mostly forgotten these days, was one of the great French aphorists, a tradition in philosophical pessimism along with La Rochefoucauld, Blaise Pascal, Joseph Joubert, etc. Chamfort here, however, is notable to me because by far he is the most pessimistic out of all of these, and thus the one closer to my heart. A lot of these aphorisms show a disgust for life, society and humanity in general, and they do so steeped in philosophical tradition rather than base, vulgar misanthropy. Schopenhauer was a fan, and it shows, because the great German sage's thought is reflected with incredibly prescience here in aphorisms like "Living is a disease from the pains of which sleep eases us every sixteen hours ; sleep is but a palliative, death alone is the cure." which brings to mind Schopenhauer's metaphor of life as a nightmare and death as merely "waking up". It also reflects Philipp Mainlander's dark view on life. Likewise, aphorisms like "The tragic drama has the great moral drawback of attaching too high an Importance to life and death." reflect Julius Bahnsen's view on tragedy. All this is a way to just say that a lot of the 19th century German pessimists were first echoed here. Likewise, one sees more complex, more modern thought in some of the later aphorisms: "Physical scourges and the calamities of human nature rendered society necessary. Society has added to natural misfortunes. The drawbacks of society have made government necessary, and government adds to society's misfortunes. There is the history of human nature in a nutshell." A very nice, witty and terse way of explaining negative dialectics.

Unfortunately, it is also a bad sufferer of typical 18th century misoginy, with aphorisms like "One must make choice between loving women and knowing them ; there is no middle course." remind one of the misogyny of Otto Weininger.

Some of my favorite aphorisms:

"The difference between you and myself," said a friend to me, " is that you have said to all the masqueraders : 'I know you,' whilst I have left them the hope that they are deceiving me. That is why the world favours me more than you. It is a masked ball, the interest of which you have spoiled for others and the amusement for yourself."

A Man of wit is lost, if to his wit he does not join energy of character. If you have the lantern of Diogenes, you must also have his cudgel.

There are more fools than wise men, and even in the wise man himself there is more folly than wisdom.

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

Public opinion is a jurisdiction which the honest man must never fully recognize, and which he must never ignore.

It must be admitted that to live in the world without from time to time acting a part is impossible. What distinguishes the honest man from the knave is, that the former only does so when absolutely obliged and to escape a danger, while the latter seeks for opportunities.

I Cannot conceive of a wisdom that lacks distrust: according to the Scriptures the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God—I believe it is rather the fear of men.

A Man of no principles is also, as a rule, a man of no character, for had he been born with character, he would have felt the need of forming principles.4

Nearly all men are slaves for the same reason that the Spartans assigned for the servitude of the Persians—lack of power to pronounce the syllable, No. To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only two means to preserve one's freedom and one's character.

In order to forgive reason for the evil it has wrought on the majority of men, we must imagine for ourselves what man would be without his reason. 'Tis a necessary evil.

One of the great misfortunes of man is that even his good qualities are sometimes useless to him, and that the art of profiting by them and governing them wisely is often the tardy fruit of experience alone.

Hope is but a charlatan that ceases not to deceive us. For myself happiness only began when I had lost it. I would fain inscribe upon the gate of Paradise the line that Dante wrote upon that of Hell—" Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate."

Our reason sometimes makes us as unhappy as our passions, and in such a case one can say of a man that he is a patient poisoned by his physician.

It is nature's will that wise men have their illusions as well as fools, to the end that they be not made too unhappy by their own wisdom.

That tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Bible is a fine allegory. Is it not intended to signify that when one has penetrated to the depths of things, the consequent loss of illusions brings about the death of the soul—that is to say a complete detachment from all that moves and interests other men?

Living is a disease from the pains of which sleep eases us every sixteen hours ; sleep is but a palliative, death alone is the cure.

The nobility, say the nobles, is an intermediary between the king and the people... Precisely; just as the hound is the intermediarybetween the huntsman and the hares.

The tragic drama has the great moral drawback of attaching too high an Importance to life and death.

Like animals that cannot breathe at a certain altitude without perishing, the slave dies in the atmosphere of freedom

'Tis easier to make certain things legal than to make them legitimate.

The public is governed as it reasons. It is its right to say foolish things, as it is that of the ministers to do them.

The majority of our social institutions seem to have as object the maintenance of man in a mediocrity of ideas and emotions, which renders him best fitted to govern or be governed.

There are periods when public opinion is the worst of opinions.

Physical scourges and the calamities of human nature rendered society necessary. Society has added to natural misfortunes. The drawbacks of society have made government necessary, and government adds to society's misfortunes. There is the history of human nature in a nutshell.

Some one has said that to plagiarise from the ancients is to play the pirate beyond the Equator, but that to steal from the moderns is to pick pockets at street corners.

A MAN is not clever simply because he has many ideas, just as he is not necessarily a good general because he has many soldiers.

There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools.

The majority of the books of our time give one the impression of having been manufactured in a day out of books read the day before.

What makes the success of many books consists in the affinity there is between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of the public.

Such is the miserable condition of men, that they must needs seek consolation in society for the evils of nature, and in nature for the evils of society. How many have failed to find either in one or the other distraction from their troubles!

A PHILOSOPHER who had retired from the world wrote me a letter full of good advice and common sense. It concluded with these words: "Farewell, my friend ; maintain if you can the interests that bind you to society, but cultivate the feelings that cut you away from it."

It must be admitted that in order to live happy in the world there are sides to the soul which we must absolutely paralyse.

Nature seems to make use of men for the accomplishment of her designs without concerning herself about her instruments, like tyrants who rid themselves of those who have been of service to them.

A MAN in love who pities the reasonable mai^ seems to me like one who reads fairy tales and jeers at those who read history.

I ONCE heard an orthodox person denouncing those who discuss articles of faith. " Gentlemen," he said naively, "a true Christian does not examine what he is ordered to believe. Dogma is like a bitter pill : if you chew it, you will never be able to swallow it."

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

“A man of wit is lost, if to his wit he does not join energy of character. If you have the lantern of Diogenes, you must also have his cudgel.”
—
“There are more fools than wise men, and even in the wise man himself there is more folly than wisdom.”
—
“Education must have two foundations—morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defense for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs; by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists. The one great social principle is to be just both to yourself and to others. If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.”
—
“Public opinion is a jurisdiction which the honest man must never fully recognize, and which he must never ignore.”
—
“What I have learnt I no longer know; what I still know has come to me by intuition.”
—
“‘Are you not ashamed to wish to speak better than you can?’ said Seneca to one of his sons who could not work out the exordium of an oration he was composing. One might say the same to those who adopt principles stronger than their character will bear. ‘Are you not ashamed of wishing to be more of a philosopher than you can be?’”
—
“There are certain failings that preserve one from some epidemic vices, just as it may be noted that in time of plague fever-stricken patients escape contagion.”
—
“It is nature’s will that wise men have their illusions as well as fools, to the end that they be not made too unhappy by their own wisdom.”
—
“A philosopher who had retired from the world wrote me a letter full of good advice and common sense. It concluded with these words: ‘Farewell, my friend; maintain if you can the interests that bind you to society, but cultivate the feelings that cut you away from it.’”
—
“It is when their age of passions is past that great men produce their masterpieces, just as it is after volcanic eruptions that the soil is most fertile.”
—
“M. de —— asked a certain bishop for a country house of his which he never occupied. ‘Don’t you know,’ said the bishop, ‘that a man ought always to have some place to which he never goes, but where he believes he would be happy?’ ‘Yes,’ replied M. de ——, ‘it is quite true—that is what has made the fortune of Paradise.’”

[Jawad A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I hear it argued that, taking everything into account, the least sensitive folk are the happiest, I remember the Indian proverb: “Better to be seated than standing, better to be lying than seated, but better than all else to be dead.” -- The Cynic's Breviary

- Suicide
"Unable to tolerate the prospect of being imprisoned once more, in September 1793 he locked himself into his office and shot himself in the face. The pistol malfunctioned and he did not die even though he shot off his nose and part of his jaw. He then repeatedly stabbed his neck with a paper cutter, but failed to cut an artery. He finally used the paper cutter to stab himself in the chest. He dictated to those who came to arrest him the well-known declaration Moi, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, déclare avoir voulu mourir en homme libre plutôt que d'être reconduit en esclave dans une maison d'arrêt ("I, Sebastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, hereby declare my wish to die a free man rather than to continue to live as a slave in a prison") which he signed in a firm hand and in his own blood. His butler found him unconscious in a pool of blood. From then until his death at Paris the following year, he suffered intensely and was attended to by a gendarme, whom he paid a crown a day." Wikipedia

'Ah ! mon ami, je m'en vais enfin de ce monde, où il faut que le cœur se brise ou se bronze.'

[Xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.7

Up there with Geothe, with more insight than Rochefoucauld, and more precision than the rest, Balzac himself attest to the best, "Chamfort put whole volumes in a single biting phrase, while nowadays it's a marvel to find a biting phrase in a volume.

[Samuel Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

CHAMFORT: Nearly all men are slaves for the same reason that the Spartans assigned for the servitude of the Persians—lack of power to pronounce the syllable, No. To be able to utter that word and live alone, are the only two means to preserve one’s freedom and one’s character.

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as deep as La Rochefoucauld rather more of the same still a enjoyable read

Unfortunately it’s very hard to find english translations for some of the frech moralists :(

[Augustus · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have read already Emil Cioran or Nicolas Gomez Davila, don't forget to read this small book

[Avis Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chamfort is often quoted, but not often read. He's well worth it.

Available at Open Library:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL10341...

[Jp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of aphorisms from a man who lost his head to the French Counter Revolutionaries after he defined 'fraternite' as " Be my brother or I will kill you."

[James Dempsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butterflying hither to thither, I have always visioned a part of myself in Chamfort. I never tire in returning to his pith and glossing over a life so warily though honourably led.