“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.

Original

La bonté n'est pas sans écueils: on l'attribue au caractère, on veut rarement y reconnaître les efforts secrets d'une belle âme, tandis qu'on récompense les gens méchants du mal qu'ils ne font pas.

A Daughter of Eve (1839)

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Honoré de Balzac 157

French writer 1799–1850

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“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.”

Original

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Honoré de Balzac 157

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