The boor covers himself, the rich man or the fool adorns himself, and the elegant man gets dressed. — Honore de Balzac Elegant Copy Share Image
When one of those skirt-bearing animals has set herself up above all by permitting herself to be deified, no power on earth… — Honore de Balzac Animal Copy Share Image
How sternly we reproach virtue for its failings, how indulgent we are to the better qualities of vice! — Honore de Balzac Character Copy Share Image
God is the author, men are only the players. These grand pieces which are played upon earth have been composed in heaven. — Honore de Balzac Books Copy Share Image
Bankers are lynxes. To expect any gratitude from them is equivalent to attempting to move the wolves of the Ukraine to pity… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Poetry is only born after painful journeys into the vast regions of thought. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Poverty is a divine stepmother who does for youths what their own mothers were unable to do. It introduces them to frugality,… — Honore de Balzac Divine Copy Share Image
“Conscience, my dear, is a kind of stick that everyone picks up to thrash his neighbor with, but one he never uses… — Honoré de Balzac Conscience Copy Share Image
Woman is a delightful instrument of pleasure, but it is necessary to know its trembling strings, to study the position of them,… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Like hunger, physical love is a necessity. But man's appetite for amour is never so regular or so sustained as his appetite… — Honore de Balzac Amour Copy Share Image
Virginity, like all monstrosities, possesses special riches and its own absorbing grandeur. Among the chaste, life forces are economized and thus gain… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
When will conventional good manners become attractive? When will ladies of fashion exhibit their shoulders a little less and their affability and… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
We must certainly acknowledge that solitude is a fine thing; but it is a pleasure to have some one who can answer,… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
If you are to judge a man, you must know his secret thoughts, sorrows, and feelings; to know merely the outward events… — Honore de Balzac Events Copy Share Image
Love, according to our contemporary poets, is a privilege which two beings confer upon one another, whereby they may mutually cause one… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A knowledge of mankind and of things that surround us gives us that second education which proves far move valuable than our… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
The good we do to others is spoilt unless we efface ourselves so completely that those we help have no sense of… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Marriage is an institution necessary to the maintenance of society but contrary to the laws of nature. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: withered hearts, or empty skulls? — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
What is a child, monsieur, but the image of two beings, the fruit of two sentiments spontaneously blended? — Honore de Balzac Child Copy Share Image
Imagination helps bring out the realism of every detail and only sees the beauties of the work. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
There are as many mediocrities exalted through pity as masters decried through envy. — Honore de Balzac Envy Copy Share Image
Our happiness often depends upon social hypocrisies to which we will never stoop. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Remorse is impotence, impotence which sins again. Repentance alone is powerful; it ends all. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
The duration of passion is proportionate with the original resistance of the woman. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Nobody loves a woman because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or intelligent. We love because we love. — Honore de Balzac Body love Copy Share Image
It is not hope but despair that gives us the measure of our ambitions. We may yield secretly to beautiful poems of… — Honore de Balzac Ambition Copy Share Image
“Man cannot spend all his time doing evil, and even in the company of pirates there must be some sweet moments on… — Honoré de Balzac Business Copy Share Image
To lese-majeste and contempt of court, we must add the crime of lese-million, that fearful indignity we visit on the rich when… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Modern reformers offer nebulous theories or write philanthropic novels. But your thief acts! He is as clear as a fact and as… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Creole women take after Europe in their intelligence, after the Tropics in the illogical violence of their passions, and after the Indies… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
The habits of every animal are, at least in the eyes of man, constantly similar in all ages. But the habits, the… — Honore de Balzac Age Copy Share Image
“Love is the most melodious of all harmonies and the sentiment of love is innate. Woman is a delightful instrument of pleasure,… — Honore de Balzac Love Copy Share Image
Religious ecstasy is a madness of thought freed of its bodily bonds, whereas in the ecstasy of love, the forces of twin… — Honore de Balzac Ecstasy Copy Share Image
With a woman, always make good use of a secret. She will be proportionally grateful to you, like a scoundrel who grants… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
“No one was irritable; we have never known anyone to remain unhappy while digesting a good meal. We enjoy lingering in a… — Honoré de Balzac Food Copy Share Image
What moralist can deny that well-bred and vicious people are much more agreeable than their virtuous counterparts? Having crimes to atone for,… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals - that is what keeps… — Honore de Balzac Calm Copy Share Image
When an intelligent man reaches the point of inviting self-explanation and offers surrendering the key to his heart, he is assuredly riding… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
