There is this famous quote from the french writer, which goes like
Gravity is a mysterious carriage of the body invented to conceal the want of mind
I don't quite understand what the word gravity means here (is it the physics one or just like seriousness or even how much we weigh certain topics) and what is the sense of this sentence, is this a form of subjectivism?
Before Newton, 'gravity' was variously used to mean weight, mass, seriousness, ponderousness, and the opposite of 'levity'. There was a cartoon in 1763 by Hogarth called 'The Weighing House' - I can't find a royalty-free version of this but a search should turn it up - showing nine degrees between 'gravity' and 'levity'.
A better translation these days might use 'gravitas' rather than 'gravity'. This is the mysterious bearing that makes some people appear profound, respectable, and trustworthy; and which can work as substitute for ability in society.
I can't speculate about historical context, but the meaning in the original French seems obvious to me. From Réflexions, a book of collected maxims - so it's probably not even the author's own words, and there's no textual context to put it in. Page 71, page 103 of the digitization.
«La gravité est un mystère du corps, inventé pour cacher les défauts de l'esprit.»
Transliterated:
"Gravitas is a mystery of the body, invented for to hide defects of the mind."
The main sense of hide in cacher is to conceal by putting something in a place where it cannot easily be seen.
I don't speak French, and I think you should ask on that stackexchange really
Gravity is a mysterious carriage of the body invented to conceal the want of mind
Is it the case that seriousness is for stupid people? I don't think it's great psychologically or philosophically, and the claim should probably be contextualised in 17th century France if you want to assess its truth rather than marvel at the language.
