Quotes from Honore de Balzac

I have endured everything: hunger and thirst, want of money, want of clothes, of shoes, of linen, every cruelty that penury can inflict. I have blown on my frozen fingers in that pickle-jar of great men, which I should like to see again, now, with you. I worked through a whole winter, seeing my head steam, and perceiving the atmosphere of my own moisture as we see that of horses on a frosty day. I do not know where a man finds the fulcrum that enables him to hold out against such a life.

Be not too confiding, nor frivolous, nor over enthusiastic, —three rocks on which youth often strikes. Too confiding a nature loses respect, frivolity brings contempt, and others take advantage of excessive enthusiasm.

Sufra, sufra, amigo mío, será famoso, sus penas son el precio de la inmortalidad. Mucho me gustaría a mí tener que soportar las penalidades de una lucha. Dios le guarde de una vida sin conflicto ni luchas, en la que las alas del águila no encuentran espacio bastante. ¡Envidio sus sufrimientos, pues al menos usted está vivo! ¡Desplegará sus fuerzas, esperará una victoria! Su lucha será gloriosa.

Ha! ha! suppose one of us were to carry off the Creole marchioness from that Georges Marest!" "Fine occupation that, for a clerk in our office!" cried Godeschal. "Will you never control your vanity, popinjay?

Virtue, socially speaking, is the companion of a comfortable life, and comes only with education.

Where there are sheeps, there are wolves.

Do not infer from this that either side is taken here; either that of the Emperor Nicholas against Poland, or that of Poland against the Emperor. It would be a foolish thing to slip political discussion into tales that are intended to amuse or interest

For all human sentiments there is a time of early blossoming, a day of generous enthusiasm that gradually fades until nothing is left of happiness but a memory, and glory is known for a delusion.

Ha a n?k elmésnek, tehetségesnek találják, a férfiak el fogják hinni, hogy az, hacsak maga ki nem ábrándítja ?ket. Akkor aztán mindent akarhat, mindenütt megvetheti a lábát. Akkor majd megtudja, hogy a világ nem egyéb, mint megcsaltak és csalók közössége.

that virtuous middle-class which brings up ingenuous daughters to an honorable toil, giving them sterling qualities which diminish as soon as they are brought in contact with the superior world of social life;

À força de falar, um homem acaba por acreditar no que diz; ao passo que se pode agir contra o próprio pensamento sem viciá-lo e ganhar uma causa má sem sustentar que seja boa, como o faz o advogado ao pleitear.

Well, then, this Loriot, who sold corn to those butchers, has never had but one passion, they say — he idolizes his daughters.

For the last thirty years, however, these pictures of ancient times are beginning to fade and disappear. Modern industry, working for the masses, goes on destroying the creations of ancient art, the works of which were once as personal to the consumer as to the artisan. Nowadays we have products, we no longer have works.

Ön, ha fels?bbrend? ember, menjen egyenest emelt f?vel el?re. De meg kell majd küzdenie az irigységgel, a rágalommal, a középszer?séggel, az egész világgal.

So he immolated himself. He made the sacrifice because he was a father; he went into voluntary exile. His daughters were satisfied, so he thought that he had done the best thing he could; but it was a family crime, and father and daughters were accomplices.

Who rises the glass, also rises the price!

Hay momentos en la vida en que se desea tomar el camino más largo a fin de mantener vivo caminando el hervidero de ideas en el que nos encontramos inmersos y a cuyo fluir desea uno abandonarse.

Beaucoup de gens aiment mieux nier les dénouements, que de mesurer la force des liens, des noeuds, des attaches qui soudent secrètement un fait à un autre dans l'ordre moral.

Only just now she said to me, 'I am very happy, papa!' When they say 'father' stiffly, it sends a chill through me; but when they call me 'papa,' it brings all the old memories back. I feel most their father then; I even believe that they belong to me, and to no one else.

A justiça é uma abstração, representada por uma reunião de indivíduos a todo o momento substituídos, e cujas boas intenções, cuja memória são, como eles, extremamente ambulatórias. As

Paul never imagined, as he observed the habits of life of the two ladies, that they covered a gulf of ruin. Then, though there may exist some general rules to soften the asperities of marriage, there are none by which they can be accurately foreseen and evaded.

But duties, my friend, are not sentiments. To do what we ought is by no means to do what we like. A man who would give his life enthusiastically for a woman must be ready to die coldly for his country.

The police!" he cried; "one may say of it, as Basile said of calumny to Batholo, 'The police, monsieur! you don't know what you despise!' And, after all," he continued, after a pause, "who are they who despise it? Imbeciles, who don't know any better than to insult their protectors. Suppress the police, and you destroy civilization. Do the police ask for the respect of such people?

Istniej? my?li, którym jeste?my pos?uszni, nie znaj?c ich; s? w nas bez naszej wiedzy. Mimo ?e to spostrze?enie mo?e si? wyda? raczej paradoksem ni? prawd?, ka?dy szczery cz?owiek znajdzie na nie w ?yciu tysi?c dowodów.