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Luxury, nowadays, is ruinous. We criticize, but must conform, and superfluities in the end deprive us of necessities.

— Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

Le luxe absorbe tout: on le blâme, mais il faut l'imiter; et le superflu finit par priver du nécessaire.

Original text (French)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Letter 104: La Marquise de Merteuil to Madame de Volanges. Trans. P.W.K. Stone (1961).

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.