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-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
S.A. Bent, comp. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men. 1887.
Count d’Argenson
[A French cabinet minister, born 1696; secretary for war, 1742–57; an able administrator, a patron of letters, the friend of Voltaire and the Encyclopædists; died 1764.]
I don’t see the necessity of it (Je n’en vois pas la nécessité).
In reply to the Abbé des Fontaines, who was brought before him for publishing libels, and who apologized for them by saying, “After all, monseigneur, I must live” (Après tout, il faut bien que je vive).—VOLTAIRE, Œuvres Complètes, XLVIII. 99. Attributed by Hénault (Mémoires, 4) to Count d’Argental, censor of books.Mme. d’Argenson, being asked which of two brothers she preferred, replied, “When I am with one, I prefer the other” (Quand je suis avec l’un, j’aime mieux l’autre).
