François-René de Chateaubriand in: Translated by A. S. Kline 2005, the Testamentary Preface 1833 François de Chateaubriand Mémoires d’outre-tombe, Preface:Sect2, poetryintranslation.com, 2005
“

I have sat, a minister and ambassador, covered with gold lace, gaudy with ribbons and decorations, at the table of kings, the feasts of princes and princesses, only to fall once more into indigence and know imprisonment.

— François-René de Chateaubriand on Decoration

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "I have sat, a minister and ambassador, covered with gold lace, gaudy with ribbons and decorations, at the table of kings, the feasts of princes and princesses, only to fall once more into indigence and know imprisonment." in the context of "François-René de Chateaubriand in: Translated by A. S. Kline 2005, the Testamentary Preface 1833 François de Chateaubriand Mémoires d’outre-tombe, Preface:Sect2, poetryintranslation.com, 2005" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Decoration" (Quotes: Quotes are arranged alphabetically by author, A - F) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
François-René de Chateaubriand

About François-René de Chateaubriand

François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician and diplomat, considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.