Quotes from Honore de Balzac

Hortense was a wife; Valerie a mistress. Many men desire to have these two editions of the same work, although it is proof of deep inferiority in a man if he cannot make his wife his mistress. Seeking variety is a sign of impotence.

What a thing of fantasy a woman may become after dusk.

Good befalls us while we sleep, sometimes.

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

Is there any instinct more deeply implanted in the heart of man than the pride of protection, a protection which is constantly exerted for a fragile and defenceless creature?

The more a man judges, the less he loves

Conscience, my dear, is a kind of stick that everyone picks up to thrash his neighbor with, but one he never uses against himself.

If you decide to join up with me, I want it to be because you're making a rational choice, not because you've been pushed by passion or despair.

Glory is the sunshine of the dead

Le bonheur est la poésie des femmes.

Man cannot spend all his time doing evil, and even in the company of pirates there must be some sweet moments on their sinister ship when you feel as if you were aboard a pleasure yacht.

for she was invaded by a kind of love which every girl has gone through —the love of the unknown, love in its vaguest form,

Paris that eternal monstrous marvel … the city of a hundred-thousand novels … a living creature, the great courtesan whose face and heart and mind-boggling morals they know: "They" are the lovers of Paris.

While seeking out the dead, I see nothing but the living.

Yes, I can understand that a man might go to gambling table - when he sees that all that lies between himself and death is his last crown

How did you get back?' asked Vautrin. 'I walked,' replied Eugene. 'I wouldn't like half-pleasures, myself,' observed the tempter. 'I'd want to go there in my own carriage, have my own box, and come back in comfort. All or nothing, that's my motto.' 'And a very good one,' said Madame Vauquer.

Some sentiment other than love united these two beings, and inspired with mutual anxiety their movements and their thoughts. Misery is, perhaps, the most powerful of all ties.

Journalism, look you, is the religion of modern society.

He looked like some plant bleached by darkness.

Young man,' Porbus said, seeing Poussin stare open-mouthed at a picture, 'Don't look at the canvas too long, it will drive you to despair.

Wisdom is that apprehension of heavenly things to which the spirit rises through love.

The duchess turned on Eugène with one of those insolent stares that envelop a man from head to foot, flatten him out, and leave him at zero.

I do not share the belief in indefinite progress for society as a whole; I believe in man's improvement in himself.

If you have any mind to keep my respect, I recommend you not to add imbecility to these qualities by imagining that such a girl as I am will be content with your asthmatic love, and not look for youth and good looks and pleasure by way of a variety—