Quotes from Honore de Balzac

If the Ministry blunders so far as to come down into the arena, we can give them a drubbing. If they are nettled by it, the thing will rankle in people's minds, and the Government will lose its hold on the masses. The newspaper risks nothing, and the authorities have everything to lose.

In those days the blackest deeds were done in politics, to secure public opinion on one side or the other, to catch the votes of that public of fools which holds up hands for those that are clever enough to serve out weapons to them. Individuals are identified with their political opinions, and opponents in public life forthwith became private enemies.

If you're unfortunate enough to lift some trifle or other, you're paraded on the square in front of the law courts like a freak. If you steal a million, you're pointed out in the salons as one of the Virtues. You pay thirty million to the Police and to the Law to maintain those moral standards there. A fine mess!

Les avares ne croient point à une vie à venir, le présent est tout pour eux. Ce?e réflexion je?e une horrible clarté sur l'époque actuelle, où, plus qu'en aucun autre temps, l'argent domine les lois, la politique et les mœurs.

La chiave di tutte le scienze è indiscutibilmente il punto di domanda.

Devilish rogues, the newspapers," said Claparon. "Monsieur, the newspapers do all the mischief. They are useful sometimes, but they keep me awake many a night. I wish they didn't. I have put my eyes out reading and ciphering.

Seguimos viendo, y quizá tememos a quienes están al tanto del daño que nos hacen, mientras que el que hiere ignorando la profundidad de su herida es tenido como un tonto, por un zote que no sabe sacar partido de nada y todo el mundo le desprecia.

What must the rest of the world be like when one of the kindest of women forgets all her promises of befriending me in a moment, and tosses me aside like an old shoe? So it is every one for himself?

Bixiou. "Don't you think all that is a little too florid? I should tone down the poetry. 'Imperial idol!' 'bent the knee!' damn it, my dear fellow, writing vaudevilles has ruined your style; you can't come down to pedestrial prose. I should say, 'He belonged to the small number of those who.' Simplify, simplify! the man himself was a simpleton.

it is evident that historians are privileged liars, who lend their pen to popular beliefs, exactly as most of the newspapers of the day express nothing but the opinions of their readers.

Those few hours had bleached her; she had lost a woman's last glow of autumn color. Her eyes were red and swollen, nothing of their beauty remained, nothing looked out of them save her bitter and exceeding grief; it was as if a gray cloud covered the place through which the sun had shone.

Les avares ne croient point à une vie à venir, le présent est tout pour eux. Cette réflexion jette une horrible clarté sur l'époque actuelle, où, plus qu'en aucun autre temps, l'argent domine les lois, la politique et les mœurs.

Well, it is this: that pleasure is an accident in a Christian's life; it is not the aim of it; and this we learn too late.

Although the human heart may stop and rest as it climbs the peaks of an attachment, it rarely pauses on the slippery downward slope of hatred.

Les jeunes gens, qui ne savaient à quoi employer leurs forces, ne les jetaient pas seulement dans le journalisme, dans les conspirations, dans la littérature et dans l'art, ils les dissipaient dans les plus étranges excès, tant

keep this excitement for the letter which shall tell you of my first love. By the way, why always "first?" Is there, I wonder, a second love?

Çocuklu?umu, delikanl?l???m? anlatt?m ona; size anlatt???m gibi uzaktan hüküm vererek de?il, yaralar? hala kanayan genç adam?n ate?li sözleriyle... ... Bir ara sessiz geçti. Bu sessizlikte ruhlar?m?z ?u avutucu dü?ünce içinde birbiriyle evlendiler: Demek ki ac? çeken bir ben de?ilmi?im!

Savez-vous, monsieur le marquis de Rastignacorama, que ce que vous me dites n'est pas exactement poli

There is no need to cry, lad; there is a God for us all," said an old sailor, with rough kindliness in his thick voice.

He recognized the world for what it is - a place where laws and morality have no power over the rich - and he saw in wealth the ultima ratio mundi.

My child — come see how readily the word comes, and indeed there is none sweeter to a mother's heart and mind or on her lips — well, then, dear child, during the last two months I used to drag myself wearily and heavily about the gardens, not realizing yet how precious was the burden, spite of all the discomforts it brought!

Live here, in Paris," resumed the First Consul, addressing Bartolomeo; "we will know nothing of this affair. I will cause your property in Corsica to be bought, to give you enough to live on for the present. Later, before long, we will think of you. But, remember, no more vendetta! There are no woods here to fly to. If you play with daggers, you must expect no mercy. Here, the law protects all citizens; and no one is allowed to do justice for himself.

Quelqu'un a-t-il fait attention au brouillard de ce matin ? dit l'employé. — C'était, dit Bianchon, un brouillard frénétique et sans exemple, un brouillard lugubre, mélancolique, vert, poussif, un brouillard Goriot. — Goriorama, dit le peintre, parce qu'on n'y voyait goutte. — Hé ! milord Gâôriotte, il être questiônne de véaus.

It is in the nature of things that the man should be identified with the company in which history finds him.