Madame de Tencin said that intelligent people often erred in their conduct because they could never believe that the world in general is as stupid as it is.
[Mme de Tencin disait que les gens d’esprit faisaient beaucoup de fautes en conduite, parce qu’ils ne croyaient jamais le monde assez bête, aussi bête qu’il l’est.]
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],” ¶ 715 (1795) [tr. Merwin (1969)]
(Source)
(Source (French)). Alternate translations:Mme de Tencin said that people with spirit make many mistakes in their actions because they never believe that society is brutish enough, as brutish as it is.
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]Madame de Tencin said that many very clever people made social blunders because they could never believe that society was quite as stupid as it really was.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶382]The great mistake made by intelligent people is to refuse to believe that the world is as stupid as it is.
[Forbes]
Quotations about:
faux pas
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If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.
Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) American actor [John Uhler Lemmon III]
(Attributed)
An old joke, probably pre-dating Lemmon's use of it. See here.
