Martin Svoboda

@quick, member from April 4, 2011

“When law becomes despotic, morals are relaxed, and vice versa.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Quand le despotisme est dans les lois, la liberté se trouve dans les mœurs, et vice versa.
The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), Part I: The Talisman

“When women love, they forgive everything, even our crimes; when they do not love, they cannot forgive anything, not even our virtues.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Lorsque les femmes nous aiment, elles nous pardonnent tout, même nos crimes; lorsqu'elles ne nous aiment pas, elles ne nous pardonnent rien, pas même nos vertus! La Muse du Département http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Muse_du_d%C3%A9partement_-_II_-_34 (1843), translated by James Waring, part II, ch. XXXIV (part XIII in the translated version).

“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.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Entre le joueur du matin et le joueur du soir il existe la différence qui distingue le mari nonchalant de l'amant pâmé sous les fenêtres de sa belle.
The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), Part I: The Talisman

“A young bride is like a plucked flower; but a guilty wife is like a flower that had been walked over.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Une jeune fille est comme une fleur qu'on a cueillie; mais la femme coupable est une fleur sur laquelle on a marché. Honorine http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Honorine (1845), translated by Clara Bell

“A flow of words is a sure sign of duplicity.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Qui parle trop veut tromper.
Part I, ch. VI.
Letters of Two Brides (1841-1842)

“True love is eternal, infinite, always like unto itself; it is equable, pure, without violent demonstration”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Le lys dans la vallée http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Lys_dans_la_vall%C3%A9e (1836), translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley, part II: First Love. Context: True love is eternal, infinite, always like unto itself; it is equable, pure, without violent demonstration; white hair often covers the head, but the heart that holds it is ever young.

“Kindness is not without its rocks ahead. People are apt to put it down to an easy temper and seldom recognize it as the secret striving of a generous nature; whilst, on the other hand, the ill-natured get credit for all the evil they refrain from.”

Honoré de Balzac book Une fille d'Ève

Source: A Daughter of Eve (1839), Ch. 3: The Story of a Happy Woman.

“Thought is a key to all treasures; the miser’s gains are ours without his cares.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), Part I: The Talisman
Context: Thought is a key to all treasures; the miser’s gains are ours without his cares. Thus I have soared above this world, where my enjoyments have been intellectual joys.

“Love is the most melodious of all harmonies and the sentiment of love is innate.”

Honoré de Balzac book Physiology of Marriage

Part I, Meditation V: Of the Predestined http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Physiology_of_Marriage/Part_1/Med_5. Physiology of Marriage (1829) Context: Love is the most melodious of all harmonies and the sentiment of love is innate. Woman is a delightful instrument of pleasure, but it is necessary to know its trembling strings, to study the position of them, the timid keyboard, the fingering so changeful and capricious which befits it.

“Our heart is a treasury; if you pour out all its wealth at once, you are bankrupt.”

Honoré de Balzac book Le Pere Goriot

Part I.
Le Père Goriot (1835)
Context: Our heart is a treasury; if you pour out all its wealth at once, you are bankrupt. We show no more mercy to the affection that reveals its utmost extent than we do to another kind of prodigal who has not a penny left.