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Success, which is not always a proof of merit, depends more often on the choice of a subject than on its execution.

— Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

Le succès, qui ne prouve pas toujours le mérite, tient souvent davantage au choix du sujet qu’à son exécution.

Original text (French)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Editor's Preface. Trans. P.W.K. Stone (1961). | This preface was written by Choderlos de Laclos in the guise of an editor.

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More quotes by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

One hand was needed for power, the other for love: where is the orator that could aspire to grace in such a position?

Les liaisons dangereuses (1782)

The scoundrel has his good qualities, and the good man his weaknesses.

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Love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature.

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An opportunity missed once will present itself again, whereas a too hasty action can never be recalled.

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I was astonished at the pleasure to be derived from doing good.

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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.