Society is composed of two great classes — those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.

[La Société est composée de deux grandes classes : ceux qui ont plus de dîners que d’appétit, et ceux qui ont plus d’appétit que de dîners.]

Nicolas Chamfort
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. 3, ¶ 194 (1795) [tr. Hutchinson (1902)]
    (Source)

The same translation is used by Merwin (1969)(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

Society is made up of two large divisions: those who have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Society is made up of two large groups: people who have more food than appetite, and people who have more appetite than food.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

Society can be divided into two main categories: people who have more appetite than dinners and those who have more dinners than appetite.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 145]


 
Added on 19-Feb-09 | Last updated 20-Jan-25
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