I prefer thought to action, an idea to a transaction, contemplation to activity. Honore de Balzac More Quotes by Honore de Balzac More Quotes From Honore de Balzac The smallest flower is a thought, a life answering to some feature of the Great Whole, of whom they have a persistent intuition. Honore de Balzac intuitionflowerspiritual A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories. Honore de Balzac mothers-dayfamilyhappiness Nature knows nothing but solid bodies; your science deals only with combinations of surfaces. And so nature constantly gives the lie to all your laws; can you name one to which no fact makes an exception? Honore de Balzac lawnameslying If you are to judge a man, you must know his secret thoughts, sorrows, and feelings; to know merely the outward events of a man's life would only serve to make a chronological table-a fool's notion of history. Honore de Balzac judgingfeelingsmen Ah! What pleasure it must be to a woman to suffer for the one she loves! Honore de Balzac pleasuregirlsuffering Men die in despair, while spirits die in ecstasy. Honore de Balzac despairliteraturemen One should believe in marriage as in the immortality of the soul. Honore de Balzac marriageanniversarylove To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals - that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him. Honore de Balzac lawinspirationalmen Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself. Honore de Balzac confidenceinspiringinspirational Noble hearts are neither jealous nor afraid because jealousy spells doubt and fear spells pettiness. Honore de Balzac jealousyfearheart Art's greatest efforts are invariably a timid counterfeit of Nature. Honore de Balzac counterfeiteffortart Want him to be more of a man? Try being more of a woman! Honore de Balzac wanttryingmen Women, when they have made a sheep of a man, always tell him that he is a lion with a will of iron. Honore de Balzac ironsheepmen What patient can trust the knowledge of a physician without reputation or furniture, in a period when publicity is all-powerful and when the government gilds the lamp posts on the Place de la Concorde in order to dazzle the poor? Honore de Balzac governmentpowerfulorder Paris, like every pretty woman, is subject to inexplicable whims of beauty and ugliness. Honore de Balzac inexplicablepretty-womanparis Coffee falls into the stomach... ideas begin to move, things remembered arrive at full gallop... the shafts of wit start up like sharp-shooters, similes arise, the paper is covered with ink... Honore de Balzac coffeefallmoving Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing can dismay nor turn aside. Honore de Balzac intuitionflowerheart How can we explain the perpetuity of envy--a vice which yields no return? Honore de Balzac envyyieldvices Men are perfectly willing to abandon a woman but they refuse to be abandoned by her. Honore de Balzac abandonedrefusemen Forgetting is the great secret of strong and creative lives. Honore de Balzac strongcreativesecret
