The idea for this book is a story in itself. One will not tell it. Any reader whose epidermis is not too thick can understand what the conception is worth, and how it is extraordinary that, for six thousands years, it escaped all of the moralist writers and the satiric poets. Especially in our days, when one argues over naked claims like imprescriptible properties, a similar etiquette is priceless. M----- asked two hundred thousand francs in damages if one stocked it.

From a more serious point of view, the 19th century could not pass without such a book being published. Thus, the attempt will be appreciated.

Thanks to the efforts of the author, nothing will henceforth prevent the governments from establishing chairs of savoir faire[1] alongside the chairs of theology and political economy. The need for it has been felt for a long time. One can recommend this idea: it is practical, and it is democratic.

Furthermore, one can give a scientific veneer to these lessons: one could thus call them a course in biology, sociology, social positivism, social science. Why the devil would all these gentlemen speak with such words if they did not have, at the end of the accounting, the idea that is deduced here, naturally and in good French (at least as the author supposes it to be)? Why, as one says, so much beating around the bush? Gentlemen of the Academy, for mercy's sake, one entreats you to add the science of savoir-faire to the section of the moral sciences. Why do we indefinitely keep this branch hidden under the bushel?

Have you not seen that La Bruyere, Vauvenargues, Retz and La Rochefoucauld have groped around here, without finding the door? Have you not read what Diderot has written: "The maxims of great writers are like collections of experiences that await a great principle that will bind them together"?

And what the devil would you like this great principle to be, if it is not what is imprinted upon the frontispiece of the pages that the author dedicates to you with a respectful politeness?

Note: Given the growing state of mental atonia in which the majority of French readers find themselves today, due to the material and moral improvement of all classes of society, the introduction that follows might appear to be serious. Those who are not capable of reading these few pages attentively before trying out less severe charms are invited to close their books; one will not be bothered by their votes.

[1] Not just know-how, but also skillfulness.

(Anonymous [Maurice Joly], first published 1868 by Editions Amyot. Reprinted by Editions Allia, 1992. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! February 2008.)