Honore de Balzac

It would be curious to know what leads a man to become a stationer rather than a baker, when he is no longer compelled, as among the Egyptians, to succeed to his father's craft.

Children, dear and loving children, can alone console a woman for the loss of her beauty.

For passion, be it observed, brings insight with it; it can give a sort of intelligence to simpletons, fools, and idiots, especially during youth.

A man is a poor creature compared to a woman.

At fifteen, beauty and talent do not exist; there can only be promise of the coming woman.

There is something great and terrible about suicide.

All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual.

When Religion and Royalty are swept away, the people will attack the great, and after the great, they will fall upon the rich.

Lovers have a way of using this word, nothing, which implies exactly the opposite.

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.

Small natures require despotism to exercise their sinews, as great souls thirst for equality to give play to their heart.

Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster that devours everything: familiarity.

A lover always thinks of his mistress first and himself second; with a husband it runs the other way.

A grocer is attracted to his business by a magnetic force as great as the repulsion which renders it odious to artists.

The duration of passion is proportionate with the original resistance of the woman.

When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.

Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.

Men die in despair, while spirits die in ecstasy.

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

Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine.