Honor� de Balzac
France
20 May 1799 // 18 Aug 1850
Writer
20 May 1799 // 18 Aug 1850
Writer
Quotes
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In a world of hunchbacks, a fine figure becomes a monstrosity
How sternly we reproach virtue for its failings, how indulgent we are to the better qualities of vice!
How natural it is to destroy what we cannot possess, to deny what we do not understand, and to insult what we envy!
How can we explain the perpetuity of envy -- a vice which yields no return?
Hatred like love feeds on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it. Just as the being we love can do no wrong, so the one we hate can do no right
Grief ennobles the commonest people because it has its own essential grandeur. To shine with the luster of grief, a person need only be sincere
Give to a wounded heart seclusion; consolation nor reason ever effected anything in such a case
Genuine sorrows are very tranquil in appearance in the deep bed they have dug for themselves. But, seeming to slumber, they corrode the soul like that frightful acid which penetrates crystal
Gentleness in the gait is what simplicity is in the dress. Violent gestures or quick movements inspire involuntary disrespect
Genius is intensity
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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