“To-day we only smile, we laugh no more,
And e'en our very pleasures seem to bore.”

—  François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis

On ne rit plus, on sourit aujourd'hui,
Et nos plaisirs sont voisins a l'eunui.
Réflexions sur les passions et sur les goûts (1741).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 170.

Original

On ne rit plus, on sourit aujourd'hui, Et nos plaisirs sont voisins a l'eunui.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 5, 2021. History

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Catholic cardinal 1715–1794

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