Quotes from Honore de Balzac

While dreaming of the fulfilment of his schemes, he always overlooked the means of attainment. "When my son has children," said his other, "he will want them born grown up.

I remember seeing you about the time I was married, and afterwards in the courtyard," said Clementine. "But why do you put yourself in a position of inferiority, — you, Adam's friend?" "I am perfectly indifferent to the opinion of the Parisians," he replied. "I live for myself, or, if you like, for you two.

We shall see no more great ladies in France, but there will be 'ladies' for a long time, elected by public opinion to form an upper chamber of women, and who will be among the fair sex what a 'gentleman' is in England.

Society, like nature, is a jealous power, and will have not her rights encroached on, or her system set at naught.

he began to weep on his own account. Observing this grief, the abbe dried his pupil's tears, bidding him observe that the good woman took her snuff most offensively, and was becoming so ugly and deaf and tedious that he ought to return thanks for her death.

This prudent step had led to success; the foundations of his fortune were laid in the time of the Scarcity (real or artificial), when the price of grain of all kinds rose enormously in Paris. People used to fight for bread at the bakers' doors; while other persons went to the grocers' shops and bought Italian paste foods without brawling over it.

I, and I only, am to blame for all their sins; I spoiled them. To-day they are as eager for pleasure as they used to be for sugar-plums. When they were little girls I indulged them in every whim. They had a carriage of their own when they were fifteen. They have never been crossed. I am guilty, and not they—but I sinned through love.

These two natures, both so large and full — one commonplace but divinely kind, the other lofty and sublime — had fallen into unison gently, without a jar, without a flash of passion, as though two pure lights had been merged into one.

Fleury is right. Serving the State in these days is no longer serving a prince who knew how to punish and reward. The State now is /everybody/. Everybody of course cares for nobody. Serve everybody, and you serve nobody. Nobody is interested in nobody; the government clerk lives between two negations.

The forty thousand francs you want would be, of course, a mere nothing to Ferdinand, who handles millions with that fat banker, Baron de Nucingen. Sometimes, at dinner, in my presence, they say things to each other which make me shudder. Du Tillet knows my discretion, and they often talk freely before me, being sure of my silence. Well, robbery and murder on the high-road seem to me merciful compared to some of their financial schemes.

Remember this adage—complicity in vice is the real Holy Alliance* in Paris. Interests always diverge in the end but the corrupt always understand each other.

Old Wallenrod was unable to survive the disasters of the Empire. At seventy years of age he speculated in cottons, relying on the genius of Napoleon without comprehending that genius is quite as often beyond as at the bottom of current events. The old man had purchased nearly as many bales of cotton as the Emperor had lost men during his magnificent campaign in France.

Equality may be a right, but no power on earth is capable of converting it into a fact.

ll y a deux histoires : l'histoire officielle, menteuse, puis l'histoire secrète, où sont les véritables causes des événements.

In revolutions, as in storms at sea, solid worth goes to the bottom, and the waves bring lightweight stuff to the surface.

Cada cual tiene su modo de amar; el mío, sin embargo, no hace mal a nadie; ¿por qué, entonces, la gente habrá de ocuparse de mí?

Equality may be a right, but no power on earth can convert it into fact.

Biurokratija, kaip ir kariuomen?, turi savo pasyv? paklusnum?; tai sistema, kuri užgniaužia s?mon?, žmog? paver?ia nieku ir gal? gale j?, tartum kok? sraigt? ar veržl?, prisuka prie valdžios mašinos.

France is the only country where some small phrase could bring about a great revolution.

Love is a maker of false coin, continually changing copper pennies into gold-pieces, and sometimes turning its real gold into copper.

Látta feje fölött elrepülni a démont, akit oly könny? angyalnak nézni, a csillogó szárnyú sátánt, aki drágaköveket hajigál, aranynyilait a paloták homlokzatára lövelli, bíborba öltözteti a n?ket, és ostoba fénnyel árasztja el az eredetileg oly egyszer? trónokat: hallgatta a hiúság istenének rikoltozását, akinek hamis csillogása mintha a hatalmat jelképezné.

The head has its designated place in all creations. If by chance a nation allows its head to fall at its feet, sooner or later it is sure to discover that it has committed suicide.

Journalism may say or suppose anything, and our dignity forbids us even to reply.

It is so natural to believe in the realization of a noble vision, in the Brotherhood of Man. But, alas! the human machine does not have such divine proportions. Souls that are vast enough to grasp a range of feelings bestowed on great men only will never belong to either fathers of families or simple citizens.