HONORE DE BALZAC

First love is a kind of vaccination which saves a man from catching the complaint the second time.

Modesty is the conscience of the body.

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

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

A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.

Manners are the hypocrisy of a nation.

Those who spend too fast never grow rich.

A husband who submits to his wife's yoke is justly held an object of ridicule. A woman's influence ought to be entirely concealed.

The fact is that love is of two kinds, one which commands, and one which obeys. The two are quite distinct, and the passion to which the one gives rise is not the passion of the other.

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.

It is the mark of a great man that he puts to flight all ordinary calculations. He is at once sublime and touching, childlike and of the race of giants.

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

What is a child, monsieur, but the image of two beings, the fruit of two sentiments spontaneously blended?

Death unites as well as separates; it silences all paltry feeling.

In diving to the bottom of pleasure we bring up more gravel than pearls.

Many men are deeply moved by the mere semblance of suffering in a woman; they take the look of pain for a sign of constancy or of love.

No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman.

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

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

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

Our most bitter enemies are our own kith and kin. Kings have no brothers, no sons, no mother!

If those who are the enemies of innocent amusements had the direction of the world, they would take away the spring, and youth, the former from the year, the latter from human life.

Love is a game in which one always cheats.

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.

Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.