"Remorse is impotent; it will repeat its faults. Repentance only is a true force; it puts an end to everything."
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Quote collection
Honore de Balzac quotes (page 13 of 34)
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"At fifteen, beauty and talent do not exist; there can only be promise of the coming woman."
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"A grass blade believes that men build palaces for it to grow in. Grass wedges its way between the closest blocks of marble and it brings them down. This power of feeble life which can creep in anywhere is greater than that of the mighty behind their cannons."
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"To those who have exhausted politics, nothing remains but abstract thought."
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"Virtually all men of action incline to Fatality just as most thinkers incline to Providence."
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"It would be curious to know what leads a man to become a stationer rather than a baker, when he is no longer compelled, as among the Egyptians, to succeed to his father's craft."
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"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."
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"Those sweetly smiling angels with pensive looks, innocent faces, and cash-boxes for hearts."
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"Power is action; the electoral principle is discussion. No political action is possible when discussion is permanently established."
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"Life is simply what out feelings do to us."
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"When tempted to be unfaithful, the intellectual woman will try to inspire her husband with indifference, the sentimental woman with hatred, and the passionate woman with disgust."
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"We cannot confront solitude without moral resources."
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"An ounce of courage will go farther with women than a pound of timidity."
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"Love is perhaps no more than gratitude for pleasure."
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"Poetry is only born after painful journeys into the vast regions of thought."
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"Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts and abilities."
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"The privilege of feeling at home everywhere belongs only to kings, wolves and robbers."
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"Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness."
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"The impossible is justified by the fact that it occurred"
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"The boor covers himself, the rich man or the fool adorns himself, and the elegant man gets dressed."
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