Honor� de Balzac
France
20 May 1799 // 18 Aug 1850
Writer
20 May 1799 // 18 Aug 1850
Writer
Quotes
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Alas, two men are often necessary to provide a woman with a perfect lover, just as in literature a writer composes a type only by employing the singularities of several similar characters
Admiration bestowed upon any one but ourselves is always tedious
According to man's environment, society has made as many different types of men as there are varieties in zoology. The differences between a soldier, a workman, a statesman, a tradesman, a sailor, a poet, a pauper and a priest, are more difficult to seize, but quite considerable as the differences between a wolf, a lion, an ass, a crow, a sea-calf, a sheep, and so on
A woman in love has full intelligence of her power; the more virtuous she is, the more effective her coquetry
A married woman is a slave you must know how to seat upon a throne
A man's own vanity is a swindler that never lacks for a dupe
A lover teaches a wife all her husband has kept from her
A knowledge of mankind and of things that surround us gives us that second education which proves far move valuable than our first because it alone turns out a truly accomplished man
A great love is a credit opened in favor of a power so consuming that the moment of bankruptcy must inevitably occur
When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays