Honoré de Balzac quotes

Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright, considered one of the founders of literary realism. His monumental series "La Comédie Humaine" offers a vivid panorama of French society in the 19th century. He influenced countless writers and remains a towering figure in world literature. Here are 254 of his quotes:

The future of a nation lies in the hands of mothers. (Honoré de Balzac)
The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Behind every great fortune there is a crime. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Love is the only passion which suffers neither past nor future. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
A mother who is really a mother is never free. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
It is easier to be a lover than a husband, for the same reason that it is more difficult to show a ready wit all day long than to produce an occasional bon mot. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
The more one judges, the less one loves. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman. (Honoré de Balzac)
A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
The man as he converses is the lover; silent, he is the husband. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Love may be or it may not, but where it is, it ought to reveal itself in its immensity. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Excess of joy is harder to bear than any amount of sorrow. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
The art of motherhood involves much silent, unobtrusive self-denial, an hourly devotion which finds no detail too minute. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
There is something great and terrible about suicide. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
The life of a man who deliberately runs through his fortune often becomes a business speculation; his friends, his pleasures, patrons, and acquaintances are his capital. (Honoré de Balzac)
The man whose action habitually bears the stamp of his mind is a genius, but the greatest genius is not always equal to himself, or he would cease to be human. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
At fifteen, beauty and talent do not exist; there can only be promise of the coming woman. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
Conscience is our unerring judge until we finally stifle it. View quote
Honoré de Balzac
A husband who submits to his wife's yoke is justly held an object of ridicule. A woman's influence ought to be entirely concealed. View quote
Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac - Image
Occupation: French Novelist
Born: May 20, 1799
Died: August 18, 1850
Quotes count: 254
Wikipedia: Honoré de Balzac

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