“Love in the abstract is not enough for a great man in poverty; he has need of its utmost devotion… She who is really a wife, one in heart, flesh, and bone, must follow wherever he leads, in whom her life, her strength, her pride, and happiness are centered.”

L'amour abstrait ne suffit pas à un homme pauvre et grand, il en veut tous les dévouements... La véritable épouse en cœur, en chair et en os, se laisse traîner là où va celui en qui réside sa vie, sa force, sa gloire, son bonheur.
The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), Part II: A Woman Without a Heart

Original

L'amour abstrait ne suffit pas à un homme pauvre et grand, il en veut tous les dévouements… La véritable épouse en cœur, en chair et en os, se laisse traîner là où va celui en qui réside sa vie, sa force, sa gloire, son bonheur.

The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), Part II: A Woman Without a Heart

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Love in the abstract is not enough for a great man in poverty; he has need of its utmost devotion… She who is really a …" by Honoré de Balzac?
Honoré de Balzac photo
Honoré de Balzac 157
French writer 1799–1850

Related quotes

James Joyce photo
Marcel Proust photo

“In his younger days a man dreams of possessing the heart of the woman whom he loves; later, the feeling that he possesses the heart of a woman may be enough to make him fall in love with her.”

Autrefois on rêvait de posséder le cœur de la femme dont on était amoureux; plus tard sentir qu’on possède le cœur d’une femme peut suffire à vous en rendre amoureux.
"Swann in Love"
In Search of Lost Time, Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927), Vol I: Swann's Way (1913)

Nicholas Sparks photo
Halldór Laxness photo

“A married man has only one duty towards his wife in order to make her happy, and that is to ensure that she is constantly pregnant, and with a child in her arms.”

Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) Icelandic author

Reimar Vagnsson
Heimsljós (World Light) (1940), Book Four: The Beauty of the Heavens

Jay-Z photo
Nicholas Sparks photo
Elizabeth Hoyt photo
Julia Quinn photo

“He loved her.
He wanted her.
He needed her.
And he needed her now.”

Julia Quinn (1970) American novelist

Source: Just Like Heaven

Théophile Gautier photo
Mary Astell photo

“An ill husband may deprive a wife of the comfort and quiet of her life, give occasion of exercising her virtue, try her patience and fortitude to the utmost, which is all he can do; it is herself only that can accomplish her ruin.”

Mary Astell (1666–1731) English feminist writer

As quoted in The Whole duty of a woman: female writers in seventeenth century England, p. 157, by Angeline Goreau. Editorial Dial Press, 1985. ISBN 0385278780.

Related topics