Honoré de Balzac

“A man like you is a god, not just a machine covered with skin, but a theater where fine feelings sprout and grow-and feelings are all that matters, as far as I'm concerned. Is a feeling anything but an entire world poured into a thought?”

“I haven't any objection to your thoroughly despising me, right now, because I'm convinced you'll come to love me. You'll find I have some tremendous abysses, some huge, focused emotions that fools think of as vices, but you'll never find me lazy, and you'll never find me ungrateful. In a word, I'm neither a pawn nor a bishop, my young friend, but a castle.”

“If you decide to join up with me, I want it to be because you're making a rational choice, not because you've been pushed by passion or despair.”

“Was she acting entirely consciously? No: women are always sincere, even in the midst of their most shocking duplicities, because it is always some natural emotion which dominates them. Perhaps, having given this young man such a hold on her, by having openly demonstrated her affection for him, Delphine was merely responding to a sense of personal dignity, which led her either to revoke any concessions she might have made or, at least, to enjoy suspending them. Even at the very moment when passion seizes her, it is perfectly natural for a Parisian woman to delay her final fall, as a way of testing the heart of the man into whose hands she is about to deliver herself and her future!”

“To that point, he had always found the vicomtesse overflowing with friendly politeness, that sweet-flowing grace conferred by an aristocratic education, and which is never truly there unless it comes, automatically and unthinkingly, straight from the heart.[...]For anyone who had learned the social code, and Rastignac had absorbed it all in a flash, these words, that gesture, that look, that inflection in her voice, summed up all there was to know about the nature and the ways of men and women of her class. He was vividly aware of the iron hand underneath the velvet glove; the personality, and especially the self-centeredness, under the polished manners; the plain hard wood, under all the varnish. [...] Eugène had been entirely too quick to take this woman's word for her own kindness. Like all those who cannot help themselves, he had signed on the dotted line, accepting the delightful contract binding both benefactor and recipient, the very first clause of which makes clear that, as between noble souls, perfect equality must be forever maintained. Beneficience, which ties people together, is a heavenly passion, but a thoroughly misunderstood one, and quite as scarce as true love. Both stem from the lavish nature of great souls.”

“Women themselves are so happy, and so beautiful, when they're strong, that they naturally choose powerful men, even if that power's so enermous there's a real risk it could shatter them.”

“Nel momento in cui l'anima è ancora tanto giovane da concepire la melanconia, le speranze lontane, e sa trovare nella donna più che una donna, la maggiore felicità che possa capitare ad un uomo non è forse quella di amare tanto da provare più gioia a toccare un guanto bianco, a sfiorare una chioma, ad ascoltare una frase, a gettare uno sguardo, di quando di quanta non ne dia a un amante felice più completo possesso? Perciò, gl'innamorati respinti, le donne brutte, gl'infelici, gli amanti ignorati, i timidi, sono i soli a conoscere quali tesori racchiuda la voce della persona amata. Traendo la fonte e il principio dall'anima stessa, le vibrazioni dell'aria carica di fuoco fanno comunicare i cuori così violentemente, vi portano così lucidamente il pensiero, e sanno così poco mentire, che una sola inflessione vale spesso più di un discorso concluso. Quale incanto prodiga al cuore di un poeta di timbro armonioso in una dolce voce! Quante idee vi risveglia! Quale freschezza vi spande! Prima di essere confessato dallo sguardo, l'amore è già nella voce.”

“Ma chi può lusingarsi di essere compreso? Moriamo tutti incompresi. È il detto delle donne e quello degli scrittori.”

“Vi sono Parigi certe vie disonorate quanto può esserlo un uomo macchiato d'infamia; ed esistono vie nobili, e vie semplicemente oneste, e giovani vie sulla cui moralità il pubblico non si è ancora pronunciato; vi sono vie assassine, vie più vecchie di quanto non sia vecchia una vecchia matrona, vie stimabili, vie sempre pulite, vie sempre sporche, vie operaie, lavoratrici, mercantili. Insomma, le vie di Parigi hanno qualità umane, ed imprimono in noi con la loro fisionomia certe idee da cui non possiamo difenderci.”

“L’avenir ! répondit-elle en riant.Qu’appelez-vous l’avenir ? Pourquoi penseraisjeà ce qui n’existe pas encore ? Je ne regarde jamais ni en arrière ni en avant demoi. N’est-ce pas déjà trop que de m’occuper d’une journée à la fois ? D’ailleurs,l’avenir, nous le connaissons, c’est l’hôpital.”

“There is something noble as well as terrible about suicide. The downfall of many men is not dangerous, for they fall like children, too near the ground to do themselves harm. But when a great man breaks, he has soared up to the heavens, espied some inaccessible paradise, and then fallen from a great height. The forces that make him seek peace from the barrel of a gun cannot be placated. How many young talents confined to an attic room wither and perish for lack of a friend, a consoling wife, alone in the midst of a million fellow humans, while throngs of people weary of gold are bored with their possessions.”

“Surely a man must be in a parlours state to excite pity, extremely weak to inspire sympathy, or very evil-looking to make a soul tremble in a den like this, where pain must hold its tongue, poverty remain cheerful, and despair retain its self respect.”

“Yes, I can understand that a man might go to gambling table - when he sees that all that lies between himself and death is his last crown”

“Souvent, j'ai accompli de délicieux voyages, embarqué sur un mot ...”

“Gençler hoşgörüden yoksundur, çünkü ne yaşam konusunda bir şey bilirler ne de onun güçlükleri konusunda.”

“Ama toplum, anne olmaktan çok üvey annedir, gururunu okşayan çocukları sever.”

“Ne güvenli ne bayağı ne de çok görkemli olun, bu tutumların üçü de insanı gözden düşürür. Fazla güven saygıyı azaltır, bayağılık küçümsenmenize yol açar, fazla çaba da sömürülmenize neden olur.”

“Bu bencil dünyada bir sürü insan size duygularla ilerlenemeyeceğini, ahlak kurallarına fazla saygı göstermenin yürüyüşü geciktirdiğini söyleyeceklerdir; kendisine hiçbir yararları olmadığı bahanesiyle, bir küçüğü inciten, yaşlı bir kadına karşı kabalık suçu işleyen, iyi bir yaşlı adamın yanında bir sıkıntıya katlanmaya yanaşmayan, görgüsüz, bilgisiz ya da geleceği göremeyen insanlar göreceksiniz; daha sonra, bu adamların kırıp geçemeyecekleri dikenlere takıldıklarını, hiç uğruna yaşamlarını yaktıklarını göreceksiniz; oysa görev kuramına erkenden alışmış insan hiçbir engelle karşılaşmayacaktır; belki de o denli çabuk erişemeyecektir amacına, ama yeri sağlam olacak, ötekilerinki yıkıldığı zaman onunki kalacaktır.”

“Toplumu, açıkgöz davranıp herkesin zararına kendi mutluluğunu kurma kuramıyla açıklamak yıkıcı bir öğretidir,bunun ağır çıkarımları, yasaya, insanlara ya da bireye verdiği zararı bile belli etmeden, gizlice elde edilen her şeyin iyi ve uygun biçimde kazanıldığına inandırır insanı.”

“Kadın olsaydınız, hiçbir şey düzeltmeyen, ama her şeyi düzelttikleri sanılan özenlere konu olduğunu gördükçe, gururlu bir ruhun nasıl tiksintiyle karışık hüzünlere kapıldığını anlardınız. Birkaç gün, pohpohlanacağım, yapılan haksızlık bağışlattırılmak istenecek. O zaman en akla uymaz istekleri bile kabul ettirebilirim. Bu düşüş, her şeyin unutulduğuna inanıldığı gün sona eren bu okşayışlar, beni alçaltıyor. Efendisinin iyiliklerini yalnız onun kusurlarına borçlu olmak...”

“Bir akşam onu bir günbatımı önünde dindarca düşünür buldum, güneş vadiyi bir yatak gibi göstererek dorukları öyle bir şehvetle kızartıyordu ki, doğanın yaratıklarını aşka çağırmasına aracılık eden şu durasız ilahiler ilahisini duymamak olanaksızdı.”

“La flatterie n'émane jamais des grandes âmes, elle est l'apanage des petits esprits qui réussissent à se rapetisser encore pour mieux entrer dans la sphère vitale de la personne autour de laquelle ils gravitent. La flatterie sous-entend un intérêt. (p.239/317)”

“Les avares ne croient pas à une vie à venir. Le présent est tout pour eux. Cette réflexion jette une horrible clarté sur l'époque actuelle, où, plus qu'en aucun autre temps, l'argent domine les lois, la politique et les moeurs. Institutions, livres, hommes et doctrines, tout comspire à miner la croyance d'une vie future sur laquelle l'édifice social est appuyé depuis dix-huit cents ans. Maintenant le cercueil est une transition peu redoutée. L'avenir, qui nous attendait par delà le requiem, a été transposé dans le présent. Arriver per fas et nefas au paradis terrestre du luxe et des jouissances vaniteuses, pétrifier son coeur et se macérer le corps en vue de possessions passagères, comme on souffrait le martyre de la vie en vue de biens éternels est la pensé générale! pensée d'ailleurs écrite partout, jusque dans les lois....”

“Hortense was a wife; Valerie a mistress.Many men desire to have these two editions of the same work, although it is proof of deep inferiority in a man if he cannot make his wife his mistress. Seeking variety is a sign of impotence.”

“The faint hints of color in her complexion, her tawny blond hair, her extraordinary thinness, all spoke of that unearthly grace modern poets find in the medieval statues. Had she been happy, she'd have been ravishing: happiness constitutes pure poetry, for women.”

“A valley full of genuine suffering, and of joys that often turn out to be false, and so incredibly tumultuous that it takes something God only knows how outrageous to cause a lasting stir. But here and there some immense heaping up of vices and virtues turns mere sorrow grand and solemn, and their very sight makes even selfishness and personal advantage stop and feel pity - though that notion of pity is much like some tasty fruit that gets gobbled right up. Civilization's high-riding chariot, like the believer-crushing car of the idol Juggernaut, barely slows down when it comes to a heart a bit harder to crack, and if such a heart gets in the way it's pretty quickly smashed, and on goes the glorious march.[...]After you've read all about Pere Goriot's miserable secrets, you'll have yourself a good dinner and blame your indifference on the author, scolding him for exaggeration, accusing him of having waxed poetic. Ah, but let me tell you: this drama is not fictional, it's not a novel. All is true - so true you'll be able to recognize everything that goes into it in your own life, perhaps even in your heart.”

“Soon this mass of ideas became harmonized, took life, seemed, as it were, to become a living individual and moved in the midst of those domains of fancy, where the soul loves to give full rein to its wild creations.”

“Et voilà que , comme dans l' Ancien Testament , le pauvre possède un seul agneau qui fait son bonheur , et le riche qui a des troupeaux envie la brebis du pauvre et la lui dérobe ! ... sans le prévenir , sans la lui demander .”

“Affreuse condition de l'homme ! Il n'y a pas un de ses bonheurs qui ne vienne d'une ignorance quelconque.”

“Though the human heart may have to pause for rest when climbing the heights of affection it rarely stops on the slippery slope of hatred.”

“Of necessity she went further in aversion than she had gone in love, for her hatred was not in proportion to her love but to her disappointed hopes.”

“À nous deux maintenant!”

“Unluckily, Governments cannot be enlightened, and a Government which regards itself as a diffuser of light is the least open to enlightenment.”

“Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.”

“If you have any mind to keep my respect, I recommend you not to add imbecility to these qualities by imagining that such a girl as I am will be content with your asthmatic love, and not look for youth and good looks and pleasure by way of a variety—”

“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.”

“Es mucho más fácil quedar bien como amante que como marido; porque es mucho mas fácil ser oportuno e ingenioso de vez en cuando que todos los días”

“He will show you how, during the springtime of life, illusions, innocent hopes, silver threads of gossamer, descend from heaven and return there without ever touching the earth.”

“A ignorância é a mãe de todos os crimes, porque um crime é, antes de mais, uma falta de raciocínio.”

“A beautiful book is a victory won in all the battlefields of human thought.”

“In Paris, when certain people see you ready to set your foot in the stirrup, some pull your coat-tails, others loosen the buckle of the strap that you may fall and crack your skull; one wrenches off your horse's shoes, another steals your whip, and the least treacherous of them all is the man whom you see coming to fire his pistol at you point blank.”

“If the artist does not fling himself, without reflecting, into his work, as Curtis flung himself into the yawning gulf, as the soldier flings himself into the enemy's trenches, and if, once in this crater, he does not work like a miner on whom the walls of his gallery have fallen in; if he contemplates difficulties instead of overcoming them one by one ... he is simply looking on at the suicide of his own talent.”

“Femeile al caror suflet si ale caror intentii sunt pure, se folosesc de virtuti pentru a-i domina pe barbatii pe care-i iubesc; dar femeile care nu le vor binele ii guverneaza servindu-se de cusururile lor.”

“Prudenta lui ii egala averea. Era de o umilinta excesiva. Niciodata orgoliul nu-l prinsese in capcanele sale. Acest negustor se facea atat de mic, de bland, de placut si de sarac la curte, in fata printeselor, regilor si favoritilor, incat aceasa modestie si bonomie ii pazisera afacerea.”

“As soon as coffee is in your stomach, there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move…similes arise, the paper is covered. Coffee is your ally and writing ceases to be a struggle.”

“La solitude est une belle chose; mais il faut quelqu'un pour vous dire que la solitude est une belle chose.”

“One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy.”

“ Daca inima omeneasca afla clipe de ragaz in timp ce urca pe culmile afectiunii, rareori se opreste pe povarnisul abrupt al sentimentelor dusmanoase ”

“The more a man judges, the less he loves”

“Do you know how a man makes his way here? By brilliant genius or by skilful corruption. You must either cut your way through these masses of men like a cannon ball, or steal among them like a plague.”