--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Generally our confidences move downward…" description: "\"Generally our confidences move downward rather than upward; in our secret affairs, we employ our inferiors much more than our bettors.\" — Honore de Balzac" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/honor-de-balzac-197_affair_generally-our-confidences-move-downward_1376429.png" --- # Generally our confidences move downward rather than… ![“Generally our confidences move downward rather than upward; in our secret affairs, we employ our inferiors much more than our bettors.” quote by Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/honor-de-balzac-197_affair_generally-our-confidences-move-downward_1376429.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/honor-de-balzac-197_affair_generally-our-confidences-move-downward_1376429.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/51c/honor-de-balzac-197_affair_generally-our-confidences-move-downward_1376429.png) > “Generally our confidences move downward rather than upward; in our secret affairs, we employ our inferiors much more than our bettors.” [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People tend to trust lower‑status individuals in private matters while overvaluing high‑status experts publicly. **In simple terms:** We rely more on inferiors in secret than on bettors publicly. Key Takeaway Question hidden biases in trust. Themes trust status bias social dynamics Mood critical reflective Type analytical observational When to use this quote - personal relationships - business negotiations - political strategy Key Concepts psychology class dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How do you assess trustworthiness beyond status? - Do you notice this pattern in your own life? A Different Perspective Overreliance on status can blind judgment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affair/) [Confidence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confidence/) [Secrecy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secrecy/) [Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret/) ## Related quotes > [As soon as man seeks to penetrate the secrets of Nature--in which nothing is secret and it is but a question of seeing--he realizes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/as-soon-as-man-seeks-to-penetrate-the-secrets-of-nature-in-which/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [With a woman, always make good use of a secret. She will be proportionally grateful to you, like a scoundrel who grants his respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/with-a-woman-always-make-good-use-of-a-secret-she-will-be/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Who owns Cross Creek? The red-birds, I think, more than I, for they will have their nests even in the face of delinquent mortgages..It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings/who-owns-cross-creek-the-red-birds-i-think-more-than-i-for-they-will/) [Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjorie-kinnan-rawlings/) > [“The cliché that “everything leaks; it all comes out in the New York Times eventually” is emphatically not true, above all for sensitive compartmented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-ellsberg/the-clich-that-everything-leaks-it-all-comes-out-in-the-new-york/) [Daniel Ellsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-ellsberg/) > [Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/secrecy-and-a-free-democratic-government-don-t-mix/) [Harry S. 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It needs gymnastics, just like the body does.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/the-mind-too-has-its-regimen-it-needs-gymnastics-just-like-the-body/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Hatred like love feeds on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it. Just as the being we love can do no wrong, so the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/hatred-like-love-feeds-on-the-merest-trifles-everything-adds-to-it/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [All human power is a compound of time and patience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/all-human-power-is-a-compound-of-time-and-patience/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) [Explore all 793 Honore de Balzac quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) ## More Affair quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. 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