Laudator Temporis Acti

Sebastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort, Products of the Perfected Civilization. Selected Writings, tr. W.S. Merwin (New York: Macmillan, 1969), p. 231:

M. de Lassay, a very gentle man but with a great knowledge of society, said that one must swallow a toad every morning, when one had to go out into the world, so as not to find anything more disgusting during the day.

M. de Lassay, homme très doux, mais qui avait une grande connaissance de la société, disait qu'il faudrait avaler un crapaud tous les matins, pour ne trouver plus rien de dégoûtant le reste de la journée, quand on devait la passer dans le monde.

Friedrich Nietzsche, "Prelude in Rhymes," number 24 (Medicine for Pessimists = Pessimisten-Arznei), The Gay Science (tr. Walter Kaufmann):

Nothing tastes good to you, my friend?
I'm tired of your belly-aching.
You spit, rage, slander without end;
My patience and my heart are breaking.
I have a remedy; just follow
My good advice and rest assured:
A toad is what you need to swallow,
And your dyspepsia will be cured.

Du klagst, dass nichts dir schmackhaft sei?
Noch immer, Freund, die alten Mucken?
Ich hör' dich lästern, lärmen, spucken—
Geduld und Herz bricht mir dabei.
Folg' mir, mein Freund! Entschliess dich frei,
Ein fettes Krötchen zu verschlucken,
Geschwind und ohne hinzugucken!—
Das hilft dir von der Dyspepsei!

Another translation, by Adrian Del Caro:

You whine that nothing pleases you?
Still pouting, friend, and must you mutter?
I hear you curse, and shout and sputter —
it breaks my heart and patience too!
Come with me, friend! A nice fat toad,
if swallowed voluntarily
with eyes closed and summarily —
might lessen your dyspeptic load.