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Financiers flourish only when nations decline.

— Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Attributed

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More quotes by Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

It is not an event, it is a piece of news.

On hearing of Napoleon's death; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922)

I know where there is more wisdom than is found in Napoleon, Voltaire, or all the ministers present and to come – in public opinion.

In the Chamber of Peers (1821)

You do not play then at whist, sir! Alas, what a sad old age you are preparing for yourself!

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922)

It is the beginning of the end.

Ascribed to Talleyrand in The Hundred Days (1815)

Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means.

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Attribution

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