Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis

Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis

Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis (7 March 1764, Paris – 15 February 1830), second duke of Lévis, peer of France, was a French politician, aphorist and député to the National Constituent Assembly. His father was the first duke of Lévis, marshal Francis de Gaston. In 1816 he was elected to seat 6 of the Académie française. During the French Revolution, he escaped to England. Two of his three sisters and his mother were sent to the guillotine during the French Revolution.

He is credited with the quotation "Boredom is an illness for which work is the remedy". The quotation often attributed to Voltaire, "Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers" is a version of one of his maxims - "Il est encore plus facile de juger de l'esprit d'un homme par ses questions que par ses réponses." (It is easier to judge the mind of a man by his questions rather than his answers) from Maximes et réflexions sur différents sujets de morale et de politique (Paris, 1808): Maxim xviii.^[1]

Works[]

1808 : Voyage de Kang-Hi, ou nouvelles lettres chinoises, 2 vol.

1808 : Maximes et réflexions sur différents sujets

1812 : Suite des quatre Fiercadins

1814 : L'Angleterre au commencement du XIXe siècle

1813 : Souvenirs et portraits 1780-1789^[2]

1816 : Considérations morales sur les finances

1818 : Des emprunts

1819 : De l'autorité des chambres sur leurs membres

1824 : Considérations sur la situation financière de la France

1828 : La conspiration de 1821 ou les jumeaux de Chevreuse, 2 vol.

1829 : Lettre sur la méthode Jacotot

References[]