Honore de Balzac
Honore de Balzac
Honoré de Balzacbal.zak], born Honoré Balzac, 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie Humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth20 May 1799
CountryFrance
nature flower toads
A careful observation of Nature will disclose pleasantries of superb irony. She has for instance placed toads close to flowers.
past men sorrow
Old men are prone to invest the futures of young men with their own past sorrows.
men raised estimation
Few men are raised in our estimation by being too closely examined.
drama passion gestures
Sometimes, one gesture comprises an entire drama, the accent of one word ruins an entire existence, and the indifference of one glance kills the happiest passion.
men mind genius
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.
positive cutting sentimental
But reason always cuts a poor figure beside sentiment; the one being essentially restricted, like everything that is positive, while the other is infinite.
husband lying player
Between the daylight gambler and the player at night there is the same difference that lies between a careless husband and the lover swooning under his lady's window.
fall people rich
When Religion and Royalty are swept away, the people will attack the great, and after the great, they will fall upon the rich.
children two fruit
What is a child, monsieur, but the image of two beings, the fruit of two sentiments spontaneously blended?
house ruins towns
Towns find it as hard as houses of business to rise again from ruin.
exhausted abstract remains
To those who have exhausted politics, nothing remains but abstract thought.
money riches wealth
Those who spend too fast never grow rich.
literature enchantment kind
Study lends a kind of enchantment to all our surroundings.
heart exercise equality
Small natures require despotism to exercise their sinews, as great souls thirst for equality to give play to their heart.