Honore de
Honore de
heart character maturity
What moralists describe as the mysteries of the human heart are solely the deceiving thoughts, the spontaneous impulses of self-regard. The sudden changes in character, about which so much has been said, are instinctive calculations for the furtherance of our own pleasures. Seeing himself now in his fine clothes, his new gloves and shoes, Eugène de Rastignac forgot his noble resolve. Youth, when it swerves toward wrong, dares not look in the mirror of conscience; maturity has already seen itself there. That is the whole difference between the two phases of life.
home light back-home
We flew back home like swallows. 'Is it happiness that makes us so light?' Agathe asked.
winning men lasts
He hesitated till the last moment, but finally dropped them in the box, saying, "I shall win!"--the cry of a gambler, the cry of the great general, the compulsive cry that has ruined more men than it has ever saved.
people want affair
It is always assumed by the empty-headed, who chatter about themselves for want of something better, that people who do not discuss their affairs openly must have something to hide.
heart skulls sight
Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: withered hearts, or empty skulls?
fortune
Time is the only capital of those who just have their inteligence as fortune.
men yield common-sense
I yield to your wishes. It is the privilege of the women whom we love more than they love us to make the men who love them ignore the ordinary rules of common-sense.
marriage fighting routine
Marriage must fight constantly against a monster which devours everything: routine.
men aversion ends
Man can start with aversion and end with love, but if he begins with love and comes round to aversion he will never get back to love.
half want comfort
How did you get back?' asked Vautrin. 'I walked,' replied Eugene. 'I wouldn't like half-pleasures, myself,' observed the tempter. 'I'd want to go there in my own carriage, have my own box, and come back in comfort. All or nothing, that's my motto.' 'And a very good one,' said Madame Vauquer.
feelings natural midst
Women are always true, even in the midst of their greatest falsities, because they are always influenced by some natural feeling.
may fantasy dusk
What a thing of fantasy a woman may become after dusk.
memories
True love rules especially through memory.
feelings paper action
I'm a great poet. I don't put my poems on paper: they consist of actions and feelings.