A man who stops at nothing short of the law is very clever indeed! — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Men who pay their tailors never amount to anything, they never even become Cabinet ministers. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts and abilities. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Old men are prone to invest the futures of young men with their own past sorrows. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Virtually all men of action incline to Fatality just as most thinkers incline to Providence. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Love and work have the virtues of making a man pretty indifferent to anything else. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Everybody all over the world takes a wife's estimate into account in forming an opinion of a man. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Your modest savant smiles as he says to his admirers: What have I done? Nothing. Man does not invent a force, he… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Woman is closer to angels than man because she knows how to mingle an infinite tenderness with the most absolute compassion. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Many men are deeply moved by the mere semblance of suffering in a woman; they take the look of pain for a… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
The man whom fate employs to awaken love in the heart of a young girl is often unaware of his work and… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Man can start with aversion and end with love, but if he begins with love and comes round to aversion he will… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Nothing is unimportant to a man plunged in despair. He is as credulous as a criminal sentenced to death who listens to… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
In Paris, the greatest expression of personal satisfaction known to man is the smirk on the face of a male, highly pleased… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Girls are apt to imagine noble and enchanting and totally imaginary figures in their own minds; they have fanciful extravagant ideas about… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A woman questions the man who loves exactly as a judge questions a criminal. This being so, a flash of the eye,… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A girl's coquetry is of the simplest, she thinks that all is said when the veil is laid aside; a woman's coquetry… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A woman's greatest charm consists in a constant appeal to a man's generosity by a gracious declaration of helplessness which fills him… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Modern society includes three types of men who can never think very highly of the world--the priest, the physician, and the attorney-at-law.… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A grass blade believes that men build palaces for it to grow in. Grass wedges its way between the closest blocks of… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Genius is answerable only to itself; it is the sole judge of the means, since it alone knows the end; thus genius… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual. Misfortune is a stepping stone for a genius, a piscina for… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Death is as unexpected in his caprice as a courtesan in her disdain; but death is truer – Death has never forsaken… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
“Yes, I can understand that a man might go to gambling table - when he sees that all that lies between himself… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Many men nourish a pride which urges them to conceal their struggles and show themselves only as conquerors. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
In love, what a woman mistakes for disgust is actually clearsightedness. If she does not admire a man, she scorns him. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
You're a fine fastidious young man, as proud as a lion, as gentle as a girl. You'd make a good catch for… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
The happier a man, the more apt he is to tremble. In hearts exclusively tender, anxiety and jealousy are in exact proportion… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
He has great tranquility of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
By dint of making sacrifices, a man grows interested in the person who exacts them. Great ladies, like courtesans, know this truth… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A man wastes his time going to hear some of our eloquent modern preachers; they may change his opinions, but never his… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
The greater a man's talents, the more marked his idiosyncracies. Yet in the provinces originality is considered perilously close to lunacy. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Ideas devour the ages as men are devoured by their passions. When man is cured, human nature will cure itself perhaps. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Men are such dupes by choice, that he who would impose upon others never need be at a loss to find ready… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
As soon as man seeks to penetrate the secrets of Nature--in which nothing is secret and it is but a question of… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
It is a singular fact that most men of action incline to the theory of fatalism, while the greater part of men… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Rich men are resolved to be astonished at nothing. When they see a masterpiece, they must needs at one glance recognize some… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
“Oh, my friend, when you love, love a woman whom you are sure that you can love always. Never forsake a woman.” — Honoré de Balzac Copy Share
“You have broken the ice, though you have not even scratched its glossy surface: you have placed your hand upon the croup of the… — Honoré de Balzac Copy Share
It is quite right what they say: the three most beautiful sights in the world are a ship in full sail, a galloping horse,… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
My writing table has seen all my wretchedness, knows all my plans, has overheard all my thoughts. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
Foppery, being the chronic condition of women, is not so much noticed as it is when it breaks out on the person of the… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
Rich men are resolved to be astonished at nothing. When they see a masterpiece, they must needs at one glance recognize some flaw to… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
White and shining virgin of all human virtues, ark of the covenant between earth and heaven, tender and strong companion partaking of the lion… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
All men can bear a familiar, definite misfortune better than the cruel alternations of a fate which, from one moment to another, brings excessive… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
The mind, too, has its regimen. It needs gymnastics, just like the body does. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
Hatred like love feeds on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it. Just as the being we love can do no wrong, so the… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share
