Quotes from Honore de Balzac

Le baptême de la Ligne lui fit perdre beaucoup de préjugés ; il s'aperçut que le meilleur moyen d'arriver à la fortune était, dans les régions intertropicales, aussi bien qu'en Europe, d'acheter et de vendre des hommes.

La burocrazia è un gigantesco meccanismo azionato da pigmei".

France, especially in Brittany, still possesses certain towns completely outside of the movement which gives to the nineteenth century its peculiar characteristics.

The glory of a surgeon is like that of an actor: they live only so long as they are alive, and their talent leaves no trace when they are gone. Actors and surgeons, like great singers too, like the executants who by their performance increase the power of music tenfold, are all the heroes of a moment.

Quand tu auras envie de critiquer quelqu'un, songe que tout le monde n'a pas joui des mêmes avantages que toi.

L'inspiration, c'est l'occasion du génie.

who had not felt his daughter's heart beat against his breast for ten years, "do you want me to die of joy?

Conscience, my dear fellow, is a stick which every one takes up to beat his neighbor and not for application to his own back.

Rien ne grise comme le vin du malheur.

Nothing passes unchallenged there; the Houses of Parliament hatch some twelve hundred laws every session, yet no member of Parliament has ever yet raised an objection to the system —

La bohème n'a rien et vit de ce qu'elle a. L'Espérance est sa religion, la Foi en soi-même est son code, la Charité passe pour être son budget. Tous ces jeunes gens sont plus grands que leur malheur, au-dessous de la fortune, mais au-dessus du destin.

When a Parisian drops into the country he is cut off from all his usual habits, and soon feels the dragging hours, no matter how attentive his friends may be to him. Therefore, because it is so impossible to prolong in a tete-a-tete conversations that are soon exhausted, the master and mistress of a country-house are apt to say, calmly, "You will be terribly bored here.

With the faculty for severe logic sedulously cultivated by elderly women during long evenings of gossip till they can always find an hypothesis to fit all circumstances,

It is your manner, my dear. When a young man comes up to speak to you, you look so serious that a spiteful person might believe you doubtful of your own virtue. You seem to fear lest a smile should undo you. You really look as if you were asking forgiveness of God for the sins that may be committed around you. The world, my dearest, is not a convent. — But, as you mentioned your dress, I may confess to you that it is no less a duty to conform to the customs and fashions of Society.

Su genio triunfaría tarde o temprano, como el de tantos otros, sus predecesores que se habían impuesto a la sociedad; ¡entonces le amarían las mujeres! El ejemplo de Napoléon, tan fatal para el siglo XIX por las pretensiones que inspira a tanta gente mediocre , se apareció ante Lucien, quien lanzó sus cálculos al viento reprochándose haberlos hecho. Así estaba hecho Lucien, iba del bien al mal y del mal al bien con la misma facilidad.

Le hasard est le plus grand romancier du monde : pour être fécond, il n'y a qu'à l'étudier.

Aunque el vulgo no admite cambios bruscos en los sentimientos, no es menos cierto que dos amantes se separan a menudo más rápidamente de lo que tardan en unirse. Iba incubándose en madame de Bargeton y en Lucien un desencanto sobre ellos mismos cuya causa no era otra que París.

Men and events count for nothing," said the Republican, following out his theory in spite of hiccoughs; "in politics, as in philosophy, there are only principles and ideas." "What an abomination! Then you would ruthlessly put your friends to death for a shibboleth?

La Société française allait être l'historien, je ne devais être que le secrétaire.

Corruption is powerful in the world: talent is scarce. So corruption is the instrument of swarming mediocrity, and you will feel its point everywhere. You will see wives whose husbands have six thousand francs a year, all told, spend more than ten thousand on a dress. You will see officials with a salary of twelve hundred francs buy estates.

This is the title of Balzac's monumental series of interlinked novels and stories, which depict French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy, from 1815 to 1848. The series comprises 91 finished works and 46 unfinished works, with some only existing as titles.

Los hombres que tienen tantas cosas que expresar en bellas obras soñadas durante mucho tiempo sienten cierto desprecio por la conversación, trato en el que el espíritu se rebaja al degradarse.

L'humilité de la courtisane amoureuse comporte des magnificences qui en remontrent aux anges.

Quand on connaît Paris, on ne croit à rien de ce qui s'y dit, et on ne dit rien de ce qui s'y fait.