James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
Talleyrand
C’est le commencement de la fin—It is the beginning of the end.On the Hundred Days.
Gratitude is a keen sense of favours to come.
I find nonsense singularly refreshing.
Ils n’ont rien appris, ni rien oublié—They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.Of the Bourbons.
Love is a reality which is born in the fairy region of romance.
Love of glory can only create a great hero; contempt of it creates a great man.
Methods are the masters of masters.
Nothing succeeds like success.
Society is divisible into two classes: shearers and shorn.
Speech has been given to man to disguise his thought.
Surtout, messieurs, pas de zèle—Above all, gentlemen, no zeal.
The reputation of a man is like his shadow gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows.
Too much sensibility creates unhappiness; too much insensibility creates crime.
Vous ne jouez donc pas le whist, Monsieur? Hélas! quelle triste vieillesse vous vous préparez!—Not play at whist, sir? Alas! what a dreary old age you are preparing for yourself.