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Tous ne sont pas de vils flagorneurs, bien sûr... Mais ils le sont pour la plupart, hélas.
In this sentence, it is obvious that the phrase "tous ne sont pas" means "not all of them are". It makes me wonder, though, how you express the idea "all of them are not" or "none of them is" (complete negation) in contrast.
Are you certain "all of them are not" is a 'complete' negation? Anyway, I would say that a complete negation in french would be "None of them is", translated exactly into "Aucun n'est [un vil flagorneur]" (note the use of singular, like in english).
Partial negation:
Tous ne sont pas de vils flagorneurs.
Ils ne sont pas tous des vils flagorneurs.
Complete negation:
Aucun n'est un vil flagorneur.
I think you cannot make a complete negation with 'tous'. You must use 'Aucun' (= 'None (of them)').
