("Tout ce qui favorise l'éducation, le travail, l'épargne et l'acquisition, de la propriété est libéral.

")[4] Nefftzer was opposed to universal suffrage at a time when the right had been granted in France for males but was still controversial, and he believed the vote should be reserved for those who are capable of making decisions.

[10] After Napoleon III relaxed press controls in 1859, Nefftzer left the publication to found with Edmund Chojecki the influential, Parisian newspaper Le Temps in 1861.

Under his direction, the newspaper attracted writers such as Louis Blanc, Edmond Scherer, Henri Brisson, Jules Ferry, Francisque Sarcey, Auguste Villemot, George Sand, and Alexandre Erdan.

[11] In French politics, Nefftzer was instrumental in forming a coalition for the 1863 elections, called Comite de l'Union libérale, representing the Republicans, who were in favor of a parliamentary system of government.

[14] During this period, Nefftzer translated coauthors Émile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian's novel L'ami Fritz, first published in 1864, from French to German, which was successful.

Nefftzer and Dollfus were responsible for a popular translation of David Strauss's German-language Das Leben Jesu into French (Nouvelle vie de Jésus).

[3][15] As a native of the Alsace region, Auguste Nefftzer supported good relations between France and Germany, which was not popular at the time of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and 1871.