Honoré de Balzac Quotes

Modesty is the conscience of the body.

We exaggerate misfortune and happiness alike. We are never either so wretched or so happy as we say we are.

The word 'love,' used in connection with the reproduction of our species, is the most odious blasphemy taught in our times.

We estimate wrongdoing in proportion to the purity of our conscience

Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.

For avarice begins where poverty ends.

Doing his utmost, deploying all his energy, a young man setting out from zero can wind up after ten years somewhere below where he started.

No one ought even to desert a woman after throwing her a heap of gold in her distress! He ought to love her forever! You are young, only twenty-one, and kind and upright and fine. You'll ask me how a woman can take money from a man. Oh, God, isn't it natural to share everything with the one we owe all our happiness to? When one has given everything, how can one quibble about a mere portion of it? Money is important only when feeling has ceased. Isn't one bound for life? How can you foresee separation when you think someone loves you? When a man swears eternal love--how can there be any separate concerns in that case?