A man may and ought to pride himself more on his will than on his talent. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Equality may be a right, but no power on earth can convert it into fact. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Though the human heart may have to pause for rest when climbing the heights of affection it rarely stops on the slippery… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Man's condition is horrible because, no matter what form his happiness may take, it arises from some species of ignorance. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A girl fresh from a boarding school may perhaps be a virgin but no! she is never chaste. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Love may be or it may not, but where it is, it ought to reveal itself in its immensity. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Only when one has learned to acknowledge that wiser minds have made better words to come out of our mouths may we… — 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 key to all sciences is unquestionably the question mark. To the word How? we owe most of our greatest discoveries. Wisdom… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Love may be the fairest gem which Society has filched from Nature; but what is motherhood save Nature in her most gladsome… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
For businessmen, the world is a bale of banknotes in circulation; for most young men, it is a woman; for some women,… — Honore de Balzac 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 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
The human heart may find here and there a resting-place short of the highest height of affection, but we seldom stop in… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A murderer is less loathsome to us than a spy. The murderer may have acted on a sudden mad impulse; he may… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
In Paris, when certain people see you ready to set your foot in the stirrup, some pull your coat-tails, others loosen the… — 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
However gross a man may be, the minute he expresses a strong and genuine affection, some inner secretion alters his features, animates… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
A penniless man who has no ties to bind him is master of himself at any rate, but a luckless wretch who… — 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
