Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas Chamfort

Born in 1741, Nicolas Chamfort was a French writer, playwright, and man of letters who became famous for his epigrams and aphorisms. He studied in Paris, built a reputation through literary success and conversation, and was eventually elected to the Académie française.

Chamfort also moved through powerful circles before the French Revolution, serving for a time as secretary to Madame Élisabeth, the sister of Louis XVI. During the Revolution he supported change and was associated with the Jacobins, though the violence and political pressure of the period left a deep mark on his life.

He is remembered above all for his Maximes et pensées—short, piercing reflections on society, vanity, power, and human nature. He died in Paris in 1794, but his writing has endured because it is elegant, skeptical, and often brutally honest.