He inherited a large property from his father, who was a councillor of the parliament of Burgundy.

He studied at Dijon, and travelled abroad.

Buffon was rich, but, greatly to his credit, devoted all his life to the care of the Royal Garden and to writing his works, being a most prolific author.

He was not an observer, not even a closet naturalist.

"I have passed," he is reported to have said, "fifty years at my desk." Appointed in 1739, when he was thirty-two years old, Intendant of the Royal Garden, he divided his time between his retreat at Montbard and Paris, spending four months in Paris and the remainder of the year at Montbard, away from the distractions and dissipations of the capital.