Nicolas Chamfort? Charles de Talleyrand? Catherine Gore? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: A student is taught numerous topics during a formal education, yet most details are swiftly forgotten once schooling is completed. A wit composed the following candid remark:
All that I’ve learned, I’ve forgotten. The little that I still know, I’ve guessed.
This saying has been attributed to the French epigrammatist Nicolas Chamfort and the French statesman Charles de Talleyrand. I have never seen a solid citation. Would you please help to find the original French statement together with a citation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: Nicolas Chamfort died in 1794, and the following year a multivolume collection of his works was published in Paris. The fourth volume included a section titled “Pensées morales” (“Moral thoughts”) which included the following statement. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Ce que j’ai appris, je ne le sais plus. Le peu que je sais encore, je l’ai deviné.
Here is one possible translation into English:
What I learned, I no longer know. What little I still know, I have guessed.
A similar statement was attributed to Charles de Talleyrand many years later in 1848. QI conjectures that Talleyrand was aware of the Chamfort’s remark, and Talleyrand decided to employ a version of it.
Below is an overview of this family of expressions with dates and attributions:
1795: Ce que j’ai appris, je ne le sais plus. Le peu que je sais encore, je l’ai deviné. (Nicolas Chamfort)
1795: What I learned, I no longer know. What little I still know, I have guessed. (English translation of Chamfort)
1848: What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Charles de Talleyrand)
1857: What I have learned I no longer know; the little I know I have divined. (Attributed to Chamfort)
1857: What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)
1860: What I learnt, I have forgotten: what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)
1874: Tout ce que j’ai appris, je l’ai oublié; ce que je sais, je l’ai deviné. (Attributed to Chamfort)
1874: Everything I learned, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (English translation of phrase attributed to Chamfort)
1891: All that I was taught I have forgotten. I remember only what I taught myself. (Attributed to Talleyrand)
1894: What I have been taught I have forgotten; what I know I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)
1902: What I have learnt I no longer know; what I still know has come to me by intuition. (Attributed to Chamfort)
1903: What I learned I have forgotten. The little that I do know I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)
1933: The little that I do know I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)
1948: What I have learnt I know no longer.What I know I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)
1949: What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Talleyrand)
1969: What I have learned, I no longer know. The little that I still know, I have guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)
2008: All that I’ve learned, I’ve forgotten. The little I still know, I’ve guessed. (Attributed to Chamfort)
Below are details for selected citations in chronological order.
In 1796 a posthumous work by Chamfort appeared titled “Maximes, Pensées, Caractères et Anecdotes” (“Maxims, Thoughts, Characters and Anecdotes”). The quotation was reprinted:2
Ce que j’ai appris, je ne le sais plus. Le peu que je sais encore, je l’ai deviné.
In 1841 the popular English novelist and dramatist Catherine Gore published “Greville: Or a Season in Paris”. The quotation occurred as an epigraph of the fifth chapter. The book was written in English, but the quotation appeared in the original French without translation. The words were ascribed to “Champfort” a misspelling of Chamfort.3
Charles de Talleyrand died in 1838. In 1848 “Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand” appeared. The work was based on the papers of the Late Édouard Colmache who was the private secretary to Talleyrand. The section titled “Talleyrand’s Maxims for Seasoning Conversation” contained many items including the following three:4
A court is an assemblage of noble and distinguished beggars.
What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed.
Certain acts may be rendered legal; but can never be made legitimate.
Apparently, Talleyrand collected witticisms to use in his conversations, and he added a variant of Chamfort’s remark to his collection.
In 1857 “The Critic: London Literary Journal” published a review of “Œuvres de Chamfort” (“Works of Chamfort”). The reviewer included a translation of the quotation using the word “divined”:5
At school and college Chamfort was extremely diligent, gained fame, and carried off many prizes. His industry as a student he seems, oddly enough, to have regretted, saying, “What I have learned I no longer know; the little I know I have divined.”
Also, in 1857 the book “Life of Prince Talleyrand” by Charles K. McHarg reprinted the instance of the quotation in the 1848 book about Talleyrand:6
“What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed.”
In 1860 a collection of anecdotes was published under the title “Friends for the Fireside”. A different instance was attributed to Talleyrand with the word “learnt” instead of “taught”:7
Prince Talleyrand said, “What I learnt, I have forgotten: what I know, I have guessed.”
In 1874 a book chapter titled “Etude sur le Caractère et les Œuvres de Chamfort” (“Study on the Character and Works of Chamfort”) appeared. The phrasing of the quotation attributed to Chamfort was different. It used the word “oublié” :8
Un peu plus tard il disait: « Tout ce que j’ai appris, je l’ai oublié; ce que je sais, je l’ai déviné. » Toujours du piquant aux dépens de la vérité. Eût-il deviné ce qu’il savait, s’il n’eût pas appris ce qu’il avait oublié?
Here is one possible rendering of the passage above into English:
A little later he said: “Everything I learned, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed.” Always sharp wit at the expense of the truth. Would he have guessed what he knew, if he had not learned what he had forgotten?
In 1891 an article in “The Collector: A Current Record of Art” credited Talleyrand with a different version of the saying:9
He realizes the force and accuracy of Talleyrand’s observation: “All that I was taught I have forgotten. I remember only what I taught myself.” Talleyrand was probably lying out of vainglory when he made the remark, but it remains true of Mr Smith.
In 1894 Agnes H. Morton published a compilation titled “Quotations” which contained more than a dozen sayings attributed to Talleyrand including the following three items:10
Prudence in women should be an instinct, not a virtue.
What I have been taught I have forgotten; what I know I have guessed.
The love of glory can only create a hero: the contempt of it creates a great man.
In 1902 William G. Hutchison published a compilation titled “The Cynic’s Breviary: Maxims and Anecdotes from Nicolas de Chamfort” which included the following three items. The rendering of the quotation contained the word “intuition”:11
What I have learnt I no longer know; what I still know has come to me by intuition.
Man can aspire to virtue; he cannot reasonably aim at finding truth.
Man reaches each stage in his life as a novice.
In 1903 “The New International Encyclopaedia” included an entry about Chamfort which contained an instance of the quotation:12
A French epigrammatist, the best talker of his generation in France. He was born in Auvergne, an illegitimate child, was educated on a scholarship in Paris, and achieved a distinction in classic studies that led him in after-years to write, “What I learned I have forgotten. The little that I do know I have guessed.”
In 1933 the architecture journal “Pencil Points” printed an article with the following short epigraph:13
“The little that I do know I have guessed.” CHAMFORT
In 1948 “Benham’s Book Of Quotations” credited Chamfort with another rendering of the quotation:14
What I have learnt I know no longer. What I know I have guessed.
In 1949 “The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations” edited by Evan Esar credited Talleyrand with the following:15
What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed.
In 1969 W. S. Merwin translated a selection of writings by Chamfort under the title “Products of the Perfected Civilization”. The following rendering was included:16
What I have learned, I no longer know. The little that I still know, I have guessed.
In 2008 “Dim Wit: The Funniest, Stupidest Things Ever Said Compiled” contained this entry:17
All that I’ve learned, I’ve forgotten. The little I still know, I’ve guessed.
Nicolas de Chamfort
In conclusion, QI believes that Nicolas Chamfort should receive credit for the quotation based on the posthumous 1795 citation. Chamfort formulated the original statement in French and several different translations into English have appeared during subsequent decades. Talleyrand received credit for a variant after the original had entered circulation.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Baran Pradhan whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Pradhan mentioned the attributions to Chamfort and Talleyrand.
Image Notes: Picture of Forget-Me-Not Flowers from Esmee Batchelor at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
- 1795 (L’an 3 de la République; Year three of the Republic), Œuvres De Chamfort: Recueillies et publiées par un de ses Amis (Works of Chamfort: Collected and published by one of his Friends), Tome IV (Volume 4), Chapitre V: Pensées morales (Chapter V: Moral thoughts), Quote Page 138, Chez le Directeur de l’Imprimerie des Sciences et Arts, rue Thérèse, Paris (At the Director of the Printing House of Sciences and Arts, street Thérèse, Paris) (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1796, Maximes, Pensées, Caractères et Anecdotes (Maxims, Thoughts, Characters and Anecdotes) by Nicolas Chamfort, Chapter 5: Pensées Morales (Moral Thoughts), Quote Page 90, Paris and reprinted at T Baylis, London (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1841, Greville: Or a Season in Paris by Mrs. Gore (Catherine Gore), Volume 3 of 3, Chapter 5, (Epigraph), Quote Page 108, Henry Colburn, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1848, Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand, Edited from the Papers of the Late Édouard Colmache (Private Secretary to the Prince) by Madame Colmache, Volume 2 of 2, Section: Prince Talleyrand’s Maxims for Seasoning Conversation, Quote Page 264 to 266, Henry Colburn Publisher, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1857 August 1, The Critic: London Literary Journal, Volume 16, Number 392, Section: Foreign Literature; France, (Book review by Atticus of “Œuvres de Chamfort, précédées d’une Etude sur sa Vie et son Esprit” by Arsene Houssaye), Quote Page 347, Column 2, John Crockford, London, England. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1857, Life of Prince Talleyrand by Charles K. McHarg, Chapter 20: His Apothegms, Quote Page 355, Charles Scribner, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1860, Friends for the Fireside by Mrs. Mathews, Volume 2 of 2, Quote Page 245, Thomas Cautley Newby Publisher, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1874, Mémoires de la Société des Sciences Morales: Des Lettres et des Arts de Seine-et-Oise (Memoirs of the Society of Moral Sciences: Letters and Arts of Seine-et-Oise), Tome Dixième (Volume Ten), Etude sur le Caractère et les Œuvres de Chamfort (Study on the Character and Works of Chamfort) by M. Rimbault, Start Page 65, Quote Page 67, E. Aubert, Imprimeur de la Société, Versailles, France. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1891 January 15, The Collector: A Current Record of Art, Bibliography, Antiquarianism, Etc., Volume 2, Number 6, Editor: Alfred Trumble, Section: F. Hopkinson Smith, Quote Page 70, Column 1, New York, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1894, Quotations, Compiled by Agnes H. Morton, Entry: Talleyrand—De Périgord, Quote Page 184, The Penn Publishing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1902, The Cynic’s Breviary: Maxims and Anecdotes from Nicolas de Chamfort, Selected and Translated by William G. Hutchison, Quote Page 23, Elkin Mathews, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1903, The New International Encyclopaedia, Volume 4, Entry: Sébastien Roch Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794), Quote Page 355, Column 1, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1933 December, Pencil Points, Volume 14, Number 12, Why Not Schools of Residential Architecture? by Don Graf, (Article epigraph), Start Page 551, Quote Page 551, The Pencil Points Press Inc., Stamford. Connecticut. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1952 (1948 Copyright), Benham’s Book Of Quotations: Proverbs and Household Worlds by Sir Gurney Benham, Revised Edition, Entry: Sebastien Roch Nicolas Chamfort, Quote Page 485b, George G. Harrap and Company, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1949 Copyright, The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, Edited by Evan Esar, Section: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, Quote Page 196, Bramhall House, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1969, Products of the Perfected Civilization: Selected Writings of Chamfort, Translated by W. S. Merwin, Chapter 5: Thoughts On Morality, Quote Page 167, The Macmillan Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2008, Dim Wit: The Funniest, Stupidest Things Ever Said Compiled by Rosemarie Jarski, Topic: Learning & Lessons, Quote Page 184, Ebury Press: An Imprint of Random House, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎