Honore de
Honore de
drunk height salesman
To get a traveling salesman drunk is the height of impossibility.
ignorance men may
Man's condition is horrible because, no matter what form his happiness may take, it arises from some species of ignorance.
beautiful husband mistake
A husband can commit no greater blunder than to discuss his wife, if she is virtuous, with his mistress; unless it be to mention his mistress, if she is beautiful, to his wife.
heart pride men
A woman's greatest charm consists in a constant appeal to a man's generosity by a gracious declaration of helplessness which fills him with pride and awakens the most magnificent feelings in his heart.
hate like-love hatred
Hatred like love feeds on the merest trifles. Everything adds to it. Just as the being we love can do no wrong, so the one we hate can do no right.
grief people shining
Grief ennobles the commonest people because it has its own essential grandeur. To shine with the luster of grief, a person need only be sincere.
grief heart giving
Give to a wounded heart seclusion; consolation nor reason ever effected anything in such a case.
taken poison glory
Glory is a poison, good to be taken in small doses.
mean crowns dinner
Glory and fame mean twelve thousand francs' worth of paid articles in the newspapers and five thousand crowns' worth of dinners.
judging people crime
What moralist can deny that well-bred and vicious people are much more agreeable than their virtuous counterparts? Having crimes to atone for, they provisionally solicit indulgence by showing leniency toward the defects of their judges. Thus they pass for excellent folk.
smell hot-days milk
The innocence of virgins is like milk which turns when exposed to a clap of thunder, to a tart smell, to a hot day, to the merest nothing.
character men two
Alas, two men are often necessary to provide a woman with a perfect lover, just as in literature a writer composes a type only by employing the singularities of several similar characters.
husband wife lovers
A lover teaches a wife all her husband has kept from her.
kindness heart character
Kindness steers no easy course. Attributing it to character, we seldom recognize the secret efforts of a noble heart, whereas we reward really wicked people for the evil they refrain from committing.