Chamfort
November/22/2009 10:10 PM Filed in: Quote of the Day
Pleasure can be supported by an illusion; but happiness rests upon truth.
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741-1794)
How can I have lived this long and never have come across Nicolas de Chamfort before? He had a rare quality of being able to encapsulate truth in a well-formed and effortless aphorism… and it lead to his death.
His joke about brotherhood in the French Revolution ("Be my brother or I will kill you") lead to his arrest. Shortly thereafter he committed suicide. He should have known that revolutions are without humor.
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741-1794)
His joke about brotherhood in the French Revolution ("Be my brother or I will kill you") lead to his arrest. Shortly thereafter he committed suicide. He should have known that revolutions are without humor.