Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.
[Tous les jours j’accrois la liste des choses dont je ne parle plus. Le plus philosophe est celui dont la liste est la plus longue.]
Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer, epigrammist (b. Nicolas-Sébastien Roch)
Products of Perfected Civilization [Produits de la Civilisation Perfectionnée], Part 2 “Characters and Anecdotes [Caractères et Anecdotes],” ch. 7 (1795) [tr. Parmée (2003)]
(Source)
Quoting someone reacting to a request to expound on "various public and private abuses" he had received.
(Source (French)). Alternate translation:
Every day I add to the list of things which I will no longer discuss. The more of a philosopher one is, the longer one's list.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]
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Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said, “I can do no other.”
Heywood Broun (1888-1939) American journalist, author
“Emma’s Homecoming,” It Seems to Me: 1925-1935 (1935)
(Source)
