Nature meant there to be illusions for the wise as well as the foolish, so that the wise should not be made too unhappy by their wisdom.
[La Nature a voulu que les illusions fussent pour les sages comme pour les fous, afin que les premiers ne fussent pas trop malheureux par leur propre sagesse.]
Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionée], Part 1 “Maxims and Thoughts [Maximes et Pensées],” ch. 1, ¶ 76 (1795) [tr. Mathers (1926)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations: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.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902)]Nature intended illusions for the wise as well as for fools, lest the former should be rendered too miserable by their wisdom.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]Nature wanted wise men to have as many illusions as fools, so that they wouldn't become too unhappy through their wisdom.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]Nature has decreed that wise men and fools both have illusions; this is to prevent the wise man from becoming too unhappy as a result of his wisdom.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶62]

