Quotes from Honore de Balzac

The prodigality of millionaires is comparable only to their greed of gain. Let some whim or passion seize them and money is of no account. In fact these Croesuses find whims and passions harder to come by than gold.

Modesty is the conscience of the body.

A man may and ought to pride himself more on his will than on his talent

When a woman wants to betray her husband, her actions are almost invariably studied but they are never reasoned.

Innocence alone dares commit certain acts of audacity. Virtue, when tutored, is as calculating as vice.

Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.

Necessity is often the spur to genius.

No husband will ever be better avenged than by his wife's lover.

It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason that it is more difficult to be witty every day than to say pretty things from time to time.

The errors of women spring, almost always, from their faith in the good, or their confidence in the true.

The art of motherhood involves much silent, unobtrusive self-denial, an hourly devotion which finds no detail too minute.

Novelty is both delightful and deceptive.

No man should marry before he has studied anatomy and dissected the body of a woman.

The duration of passion is proportionate with the original resistance of the woman.

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.

This coffee plunges into the stomach...the mind is aroused, and ideas pour forth like the battalions of the Grand Army on the field of battle.... Memories charge at full gallop...the light cavalry of comparisons deploys itself magnificently; the artillery of logic hurry in with their train of ammunition; flashes of wit pop up like sharp-shooters.

Marriage must fight constantly against a monster which devours everything: routine.

It is absurd to pretend that one cannot love the same woman always, as to pretend that a good artist needs several violins to execute a piece of music.

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness

for a woman knows the face of the man she loves like a sailor knows the open sea

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

Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other.

An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man's entire existence.

True love is eternal, infinite and always like itself. It's always equal and pure. Without violent demonstrations: It is seen with white hairs and is always young at heart.