The contemplative life is often miserable. One must act more, think less, and not watch oneself live.

van Eyck invited Chamfort to accompany him to Germany in 1761.  
Sébastien-Roch-Nicolas Chamfort (1812). Suicide

Unable to tolerate the prospect of being imprisoned once more in September 1793 he locked himself into his office and shot himself in the face.

He was secretary to Louis XVI's sister and of the Jacobin club.