“If youth were not ignorant and timid, civilization would be impossible.”

— Honoré de Balzac, book Le Pere Goriot

Part I.
Le Père Goriot (1835)
Context: The next day Rastignac dressed himself very elegantly, and about three o'clock in the afternoon went to call on Mme. de Restaud. On the way thither he indulged in the wild intoxicating dreams which fill a young head so full of delicious excitement. Young men at his age take no account of obstacles nor of dangers; they see success in every direction; imagination has free play, and turns their lives into a romance; they are saddened or discouraged by the collapse of one of the visionary schemes that have no existence save in their heated fancy. If youth were not ignorant and timid, civilization would be impossible.

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Honoré de Balzac157

French writer 1799–1850

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“If youth were not ignorant and timid, civilization would be impossible.”

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