Honoré de Balzac

It's catastrophies which turn wise and strong people into philosophers.

— Honore de Balzac

Man is no match for woman where mischief reigns.

— Honore de Balzac

The world will avenge itself upon all happiness in which it has no share.

— Honore de Balzac

One should believe in marriage as in the immortality of the soul.

— Honore de Balzac

If youth were not ignorant and timid, civilization would be impossible.

— Honore de Balzac

Novelty is both delightful and deceptive.

— Honore de Balzac

A monster which devours everything - that is familiarity.

— Honore de Balzac

Virtue, perhaps, is nothing more than politeness of soul.

— Honore de Balzac

During the great storms of our lives we imitate those captains who jettison their weightiest cargo.

— Honore de Balzac

France is a country that loves to change their government if it is always the same.

— Honore de Balzac

Does anyone know where these gondolas of Paris come from? [Fr., Ne sait on pas ou viennent ces gondoles Parisiennes?]

— Honore de Balzac

Paris, like every pretty woman, is subject to inexplicable whims of beauty and ugliness.

— Honore de Balzac

For a sick man the world begins at his pillow and ends at the foot of his bed.

— Honore de Balzac

A woman's sentimental monkeyshines will always deceive her lover, who invariably waxes ecstatic where her husband necessarily shrugs his shoulders.

— Honore de Balzac

My further advice on your relations to women is based upon that other motto of chivalry, "Serve all, love one.

— Honore de Balzac

To feel, to love, to suffer, to devote herself, will always be the text of the life of woman.

— Honore de Balzac

The fashions we call English in Paris are French in London, and vice versa. Franco-British hostility vanishes when it comes to questions…

— Honore de Balzac

It is always assumed by the empty-headed, who chatter about themselves for want of something better, that people who do not discuss…

— Honore de Balzac

Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with…

— Honore de Balzac

It would be curious to know what leads a man to become a stationer rather than a baker, when he is no…

— Honore de Balzac

Women themselves are so happy, and so beautiful, when they're strong, that they naturally choose powerful men, even if that power's so…

— Honore de Balzac

It is easier for a woman to be a good wife than a good mother. A widow has two duties with contrary…

— Honore de Balzac

He hesitated till the last moment, but finally dropped them in the box, saying, "I shall win!"--the cry of a gambler, the…

— Honore de Balzac

One day, about the middle of July 1838, one of the carriages, lately introduced to Paris cabstands, and known as Milords, was…

— Honore de Balzac

You may imitate, but never counterfeit.

— Honore de Balzac

A city (Paris) where great ideas perish, done to death by a witticism.

— Honore De Balzac

Conventions are often more cruel than the law.

— Honore de Balzac

Art's greatest efforts are invariably a timid counterfeit of Nature.

— Honore de Balzac

Six weeks with a fever is an eternity.

— Honore de Balzac

A married woman is a slave you must know how to seat upon a throne.

— Honore de Balzac

One hour of love has a whole life in it.

— Honore de Balzac

When one has no particular talent for anything, one takes to the pen.

— Honore de Balzac

Men die in despair, while spirits die in ecstasy.

— Honore de Balzac

Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane.

— Honore de Balzac

To be happy, a man must love his wife as she chooses to be loved.

— Honore de Balzac

As a rule, only the poor are generous.

— Honore de Balzac

A man's own vanity is a swindler that never lacks for a dupe.

— Honore de Balzac

There is nothing original; all is reflected light.

— Honore de Balzac

But does not happiness come from the soul within?

— Honore de Balzac

Are not our noblest feelings as it were the poems of our will.

— Honore de Balzac