I prefer thought to action, an idea to a transaction, contemplation to activity. — Honore de Balzac Action Copy Share Image
Love or hatred must constantly increase between two persons who are always together; every moment fresh reasons are found for loving or… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Generally our confidences move downward rather than upward; in our secret affairs, we employ our inferiors much more than our bettors. — Honore de Balzac Affair Copy Share Image
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
Heaven should be kind to stupid people, for no one else can be consistently. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
An ugly woman, married to King Henry VIII, would have defied the axe and daunted her husband's infidelities. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
“Give what name you like to my presentiments, but I am afraid that my happiness will be paid for by some horrible… — Honoré de Balzac Copy Share Image
Materialism and spirituality are two pretty racquets with which charlatans in cap and gown make the same ball fly. — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Music is of two kinds: one petty, poor, second-rate, never varying, its base the hundred or so phrasings which all musicians understand,… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
All human beings go through a previous life... Who knows how many fleshly forms the heir of heaven occupies before he can… — Honore de Balzac Copy Share Image
Suffering predisposes the mind to devoutness; and most young girls, prompted by instinctive tenderness, lean towards mysticism, the obscurer side of religion. — Honore de Balzac Girl Copy Share Image
“Happy?" asked Aquilina, with dreadful look, and a smile full of pity and terror. "Ah, you do not know what it is… — Honoré 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
“The joy of those noisy and splendid groups was visible; that of Ginevra and Luigi was buried in their bosom. On one… — Honoré de Balzac Happiness 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
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
Woman is a most charming creature, who changes her heart as easily as she does her gloves. — 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
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
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
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
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
Our happiness often depends upon social hypocrisies to which we will never stoop. — 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
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
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
When a woman wants to betray her husband, her actions are almost invariably studied but they are never reasoned. — Honore de Balzac Action Copy Share Image
Among fifty percent of your married couples, the husband worries very little about what his wife is doing, provided she is doing… — Honore de Balzac Couple Copy Share Image
“The duchess turned on Eugène with one of those insolent stares that envelop a man from head to foot, flatten him out,… — Honoré de Balzac Copy Share Image
The questioning spirit is the rebellious spirit. A rebellion isalways either a cloak to hide a prince, or the swaddling wrapper of… — Honoré De Balzac Copy Share Image
A lover always thinks of his mistress first and himself second; with a husband it runs the other way. — Honore de Balzac Husband Copy Share Image
