836 Quotes by Honoré de Balzac

There are moments in life when all we can bear is the sense that our friend is near us; our wounds would wince at the touch of consoling words, that would reveal the depths of our pain.

Believe everything you hear said of the world; nothing is too impossibly bad.

The boor covers himself, the rich man or the fool adorns himself, and the elegant man gets dressed.

Let us leave the cure of public evils to those quacks, the statesmen.

Passion is born deaf and dumb.

All happiness depends on courage and work. I have had many periods of wretchedness, but with energy and above all with illusions, I pulled through them all.

Nobody loves a woman because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or intelligent. We love because we love.

I am a galley slave to pen and ink.

The good we do to others is spoilt unless we efface ourselves so completely that those we help have no sense of inferiority.