"Le luxe absorbe tout: on le blâme, mais il faut l'imiter; et le superflu finit par priver du nécessaire."

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Military leaders from FranceNovelists from FranceFreemasons
Original Language: English

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Luxury, nowadays, is ruinous. We criticize, but must conform, and superfluities in the end deprive us of necessities. — Letter 104: La Marquise de Merteuil to Madame de Volanges. Trans. P.W.K. Stone (1961).