Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-périgord Quotes

February 2, 1754 – May 17, 1838

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838) was a French diplomat. He worked successfully from the regime of Louis XVI, through the French Revolution and then under Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. Known since the turn of the 19th century simply by the name Talleyrand, he remains a figure that polarizes opinion. Some regard him as one of the most versatile, skilled and influential diplomats in European history, and some believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn, the Ancien Régime, the French Revolution, Napoleon, and the Restoration.

Vous ne jouez donc pas le whist, monsieur? Hélas! quelle triste vieilesse vous vous préparez!

You do not play then at whist, sir! Alas, what a sad old age you are preparing for yourself!
— Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 90.

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Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.

Noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, doux comme l'amour.

Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-périgord
— Recipe for Coffee

Tags: Noir, comme, diable, chaud, l'enfer, pur, ange, doux, l'amour

They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. (and variations)

Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-périgord
— Recognized since the 19th century as a borrowing, possibly used by Talleyrand, from a 1796 letter to Mallet du Pan by French naval officer Charles Louis Etienne, Chevalier de Panat: Personne n'est corrigé; personne n'a su ni rien oublier ni rien appendre. "Nobody has been corrected; no one has known to forget, nor yet to learn anything."Sources: Craufurd Tate Ramage Ll.D.Beautiful thoughts from French and Italian authors, E. Howell (1866)

Tags: learned, nothing, forgotten, variations

Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-périgord Quotes

February 2, 1754 – May 17, 1838

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