![]() ![]() The most completely lost of all days is that on which one has not laughed. Here is the English translation provided : In 1896 the phrase in French and English was included in a reference called “The Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations” and was ascribed to Chamfort. “Whoever,” he said, “is not a misanthropist at forty, can never have loved mankind.” Yet Chamfort is the author of the not unwholesome saying that, “The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.” One of his maxims lets us into the secret of his misanthropy. We cannot be surprised to hear of the lady who said that a conversation with Chamfort in the morning made her melancholy until bedtime. In 1887 an address delivered before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution on the topic of aphorisms included the saying and credited it to Chamfort : Someone in later times said that if he passed a day without laughing he should consider it a lost day. In 1880 an essay on “Wit and Humour” was published that contained a statement echoing the words of Chamfort without naming him :Ī Roman emperor who did no useful work on a certain day said that he had lost that day. Everyone seemed to subscribe to the opinion that-’La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas ri,’ – the most lost of all days is that in which one has not laughed. The visitor indicated that the saying was well known in his social circle in Paris, and he provided a translation but not an attribution : In 1817 a book describing the experiences of an English visitor to Paris was published. Here are additional selected citations in chronological order. The text did not identify Chamfort as the author of the saying, but it did give his precise French wording as the source of the English epigram. The asterisk footnote pointed to the bottom of the page where the French phrase listed above was presented. ![]() I admire the man who exclaimed, “I have lost a day!” because he had neglected to do any good in the course of it but another has observed that “the most lost of all days, is that in which we have not laughed* ” and, I must confess, that I feel myself greatly of his opinion. The earliest instance of this aphorism in the English language located by QI is dated 1803 in a periodical titled “Flowers of Literature” in a section titled “Laughing” : La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l’on n’a pas ri. In 1795 the periodical Mercure Français reprinted the following saying from one of his manuscripts : The French writer Nicolas Chamfort was famous for his witticisms and epigrams. Quote Investigator: This principle is sometimes credited to popular comedic entertainers such as Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx, but the idea was expressed more than two centuries ago. Do you know who said it and on what occasion? ![]() When I read this maxim originally it was credited to Charlie Chaplin, but I once heard it attributed to Groucho Marx. Charlie Chaplin? Steve Martin? Groucho Marx? Nicolas Chamfort?ĭear Quote Investigator: The following guideline for living makes sense to me, so I try to find humor in something every day: ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |