There are more who want to be loved than who want to love.
[Y a plus de gens qui veulent être aimés que de gens qui veulent aimer eux-mêmes.]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. 6, ¶ 360 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:There are more people who wish to be loved than there are who are willing to love.
[Source (<1884)]Men are more eager to be loved than anxious to love.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]There are more people who want to be loved than there are people who want to love.
[tr. Dusinberre (1992)]There are more people who want to be loved than people who want to love.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]