Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (born 6 April 1792 in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

– died 10 March 1870 in Chêne-Bourg, GE), aka John Petit-Senn, was a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Life

Petit-Senn was born in Geneva, when it was still the

Republic of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...

. Six years later it was occupied by the army of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted un ...

. Petit-Senn studied at the Academy of Geneva and then did an apprenticeship with a commercial company in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Following his return to Geneva in 1813, when it was still occupied by the

French First Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

, he participated in the cultural life of the city. After Geneva joined the

Swiss Confederation Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerlan ...

in 1814/15, Petit-Senn also engaged in politics, serving as a member of the cantonal parliament from 1829 until 1839. Petit-Senn is buried at the cemetery of

Chêne-Bougeries Chêne-Bougeries is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Chêne-Bougeries is first mentioned in 1270 as ''Quercus''. In 1801 it was mentioned as ''Chêne-les-Bougeries''. Chêne-Bougeries was inhabited for most of its his ...

Legacy

GraveJohnPetitSenn-CimetiereDeCheneBougeries RomanDeckert22022022

According to the 11th edition of the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' he was

a thorough Genevese and a biting
satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...
, a pensive poet, the Genevese La Bruyère, as he liked to be called, but was not fully appreciated till after his death, when his widely scattered writings were brought together.

Among many quotes attributed to him is this one...

"Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."

...which appeared in the American

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

'' Mutts'' on 19 November 2007.

References

Swiss male poets 1792 births 1870 deaths Writers from the Republic of Geneva 19th-century Swiss poets 19th-century Swiss male writers {{Switzerland-poet-stub