Luc de Clapiers
Luc de Clapiers
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargueswas a minor French writer, a moralist. He died at age 31, in broken health, having published the year prior—anonymously—a collection of essays and aphorisms with the encouragement of Voltaire, his friend. He first received public notice under his own name in 1797, and from 1857 on, his aphorisms became popular. In the history of French literature, his significance lies chiefly in his friendship with Voltaire...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth6 August 1715
CountryFrance
Luc de Clapiers quotes about
Obscurity is the kingdom of error.
It is no great advantage to possess a quick wit, if it is not correct; the perfection is not speed but uniformity.
Clearness is the ornament of deep thought.
With kings, nations, and private individuals, the strongest assume to themselves rights over the weakest, and the same rule is followed by animals, by matter, by the elements, so that everything is performed in the universe by violence. And that order which we blame with some appearance of justice is the most universal, most absolute, most unchangeable, and most ancient law of nature.
The best things are the most common.
It is easier to say new things than to reconcile those which have already been said.
The tempests of youth are mingled with days of brilliant sunshine.
The thought of death deceives us; for it causes us to neglect to live.
Few men have depth enough to hear or tell the truth.
I do not approve the maxim which desires a man to know a little of everything. Superficial knowledge, knowledge without principles, is almost always useless and sometimes harmful knowledge.
Nothing endures except truth.
No one likes to be pitied for his faults.
A liar is a man who does now know how to deceive, a flatterer one who only deceives fools: he who knows how to make skilful use of the truth, and understands its eloquence, can alone pride himself in cleverness.
Necessity embitters the evils which it cannot cure.