836 Quotes by Honoré de Balzac

Physically, a man is a man for a much longer time than a woman is a woman.

People who climb from one rung of society to another can never do anything simply.

In a husband there is only a man; in a married woman there is a man, a father, and mother, and a woman.

Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual. Misfortune is a stepping stone for a genius, a piscina for a Christian, a treasure for a man of parts, and an abyss for a weakling.

Generally our confidences move downward rather than upward; in our secret affairs, we employ our inferiors much more than our bettors.

Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.

Admiration bestowed upon any one but ourselves is always tedious.

Society proceeds like the ocean. After a disaster, it resume its wonted level and rhythms; its devouring interests efface all traces of damage.

The weakest being on earth can accomplish feats of strength. The frailest urchin will ring every doorbell on the street in arctic weather or hoist himself aloft to inscribe his name on a virgin monument.