Quotes from Honore de Balzac

Il voyait le monde comme un océan de boue dans lequel un homme se plongeait jusqu'au cou, s'il y trempait le pied.

Çok mutluyum, mutluluk benim için bir hastal?k gibidir, beni yorar ve bir dü? gibi silinip gitmesinden korkar?m.

What do we know of the world, of business, or men, or life? Our fathers should think for us!

Thirteen men were banded together in Paris under the Empire, all imbued with one and the same sentiment, all gifted with sufficient energy to be faithful to the same thought, with sufficient honor among

The two priests, the chorister, and the beadle came, and said and did as much as could be expected for seventy francs in an age when religion cannot afford to say prayers for nothing.

Mme. d'Aiglemont had lost her mother in her early childhood; and as a natural consequence in her bringing-up, she had felt the influence of the relaxed notions which loosened the hold of religion upon France during the Revolution. Piety is a womanly virtue which women alone can really instil; and the Marquise, a child of the eighteenth century, had adopted her father's creed of philosophism, and practised no religious observances.

Une des plus grandes niaiseries du commerce parisien est de vouloir trouver le succès dans les analogues, quand il est dans les contraires A

La potenza non consiste nel colpire forte o spesso, ma nel colpire giusto".

L'un des malheurs auxquels sont soumises les grandes intelligences, c'est de comprendre forcément toutes choses, les vices aussi bien que les vertus.

Ces journalistes obscurs, payés seulement après l'insertion, restaient souvent pendant la nuit aux imprimeries pour voir mettre sous presse, soit les grands articles obtenus, Dieu sait comme ! soit ces quelques lignes qui prirent depuis le nom de réclames. Aujourd'hui,

Customs are reflection of the people and the law is reflection of country's reason.

Dans la langue des viveurs, doubler un cap dans Paris, c'est faire un détour, soit pour ne pas passer devant un créancier, soit pour éviter l'endroit où il peut être rencontre. Lucien qui n'allait pas indifféremment par toutes les rues, connaissait la manoeuvre sans en connaître le nom.

Passive obedience is as well known in a Government department as in the army itself; and the administrative system silences consciences, annihilates the individual, and ends (give it time enough) by fashioning a man into a vise or a thumbscrew, and he becomes part of the machinery of Government

Of course I know," said Madame Massin, "that the Abbe Chaperon is an honest man; but he is capable of anything for the sake of his poor. He must have mined and undermined uncle, and the old man has just tumbled into piety. We did nothing, and here he is perverted! A man who never believed in anything, and had principles of his own! Well! we're done for. My husband is absolutely beside himself.

There comes an age when the only mistress a man can serve is his country.

People suffer in their chests," said Rogron, who liked to hear himself harangue, "or they have toothache, headache, pains in their feet or stomach, but no one has pains everywhere. What do you mean by everywhere? I can tell you; 'everywhere' means nowhere. Don't you know what you are doing? — you are complaining for complaining's sake.

Kendi kendine ?i?inen, gelece?e biraz erken inanm?? bir-iki yaygarac?y? da yaln?z aptallar adam yerine koyar.

A woman over forty years old!" exclaimed the baroness. "I have heard say in Ireland that a woman of this description is the most dangerous mistress a young man can have.

Ondan bir kaç sonra anlad?m ki bir kad?n?n susmas?nda gizli bir anlam vard?r, bol bol konu?mada ise nice dü?ünceler sakl?d?r.

É tão absurdo dizer que um homem não pode amar a mesma mulher toda a vida, quanto dizer que um violinista precisa de diversos violinos para tocar a mesma música.

The man is mad!" exclaimed Bianchon. "You think so, do you?" said his uncle. "If you listen to only one bell, you hear only one sound.

ci sono uomini-quercia, io sono forse solo un arbusto elegante, e ho la pretesa di essere un cedro.

Morning broke before the last song was finished. Lucien tried it over to a street-song of the day, to the consternation of Berenice and the priest, who thought that he was mad: — Lads, 'tis tedious waste of time To mingle song and reason; Folly calls for laughing rhyme, Sense is out of season.

The handsome things she had admired from her youth up she suddenly suspected of age and absurdity. In short, she felt that fear which takes possession of nearly all authors when they read over a work they have hitherto thought proof against every exacting or blase critic: new situations seem timeworn; the best-turned and most highly polished phrases limp and squint; metaphors and images grin or contradict each other; whatsoever is false strikes the eye.