“A grocer is drawn to his business by an attracting force quite equal to the repelling force which drives artists away from it.”

— Honoré de Balzac

Source: A Bachelor's Establishment (1842), Ch. I.
Context: A grocer is drawn to his business by an attracting force quite equal to the repelling force which drives artists away from it. We do not sufficiently study the social potentialities which make up the various vocations of life. It would be interesting to know what determines one man to be a stationer rather than a baker; since, in our day, sons are not compelled to follow the calling of their fathers, as they were among the Egyptians.

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Honoré de Balzac157

French writer 1799–1850

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“A grocer is drawn to his business by an attracting force quite equal to the repelling force which drives artists away from it.”

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