145 quotes
Sufferings predispose the mind to devotion, and nearly all young girls, impelled by instinctive tenderness, are inclined to mysticism, the deepest aspect of religion.
Pierrette (1840)
Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue.
Letters of Two Brides (1841)
The secret of great fortunes without apparent cause is a crime forgotten, for it was properly done.
Father Goriot (1835)
What is a child, monsieur, but the image of two beings, the fruit of two sentiments spontaneously blended?
A Woman of Thirty (1842)
It is as difficult for towns and cities as it is for commercial houses to recover from ruin.
Pierrette (1840)
At fifteen, beauty and talent do not exist; there can only be promise of the coming woman.
A Daughter of Eve (1839)
Children, dear and loving children, can alone console a woman for the loss of her beauty.
Letters of Two Brides (1841)
A widow has two tasks before her, whose duties clash: she is a mother, and yet she must exercise paternal authority.
A Bachelor's Establishment (1842)
Practice spoke its positive language to Theory whose word is always to the Future.
Lost Illusions (1837)
The provinces are provinces; they are only ridiculous when they mimic Paris.
Pierrette (1840)
There are certain wives whose confinement makes sarcastic celibates smile.
Physiology of Marriage (1829)
The sanctity of womanhood is incompatible with social liberty and social claims; and for a woman emancipation means corruption.
A Woman of Thirty (1842)
A year at the breast is quite enough; children who are suckled longer are said to grow stupid, and I am all for popular sayings.
Letters of Two Brides (1841)
Mankind are not perfect, but one age is more or less hypocritical than another, and then simpletons say that its morality is high or low.
Father Goriot (1835)
When law becomes despotic, morals are relaxed, and vice versa.
The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831)
The passion, observe, which is able to reflect, gives even to ninnies, fools, and imbeciles a species of intelligence, especially in youth.
A Bachelor's Establishment (1842)
Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness.
Letters of Two Brides (1841)
Excess of joy is harder to bear than any amount of sorrow.
Letters of Two Brides (1841)
Chance, my dear, is the sovereign deity in child-bearing.
Letters of Two Brides (1841)
There is something great and terrible about suicide.
The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831)