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Quotes from Physiology of Marriage — Honoré de Balzac

1799–1850 France

← All quotes by Honoré de Balzac

13 quotes

Power does not consist in striking with force or with frequency, but in striking true.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

The most virtuous women have in them something that is never chaste.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

It is easier to be a lover than a husband, for the same reason that it is more difficult to be witty every day, than to say bright things from time to time.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

A man ought not to marry without having studied anatomy, and dissected at least one woman.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

The virtue of women is perhaps a question of temperament.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

There are certain wives whose confinement makes sarcastic celibates smile.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

To be able to keep a mother-in-law in the country while he lives in Paris, and vice versa, is a piece of good fortune which a husband too rarely meets with.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Manners are the hypocrisy of nations.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Plus on juge, moins on aime.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Marriage is a fight to the death, before which the wedded couple ask a blessing from heaven, because it is the rashest of all undertakings to swear eternal love; the fight at once commences and victory, that is to say liberty, remains in the hands of the cleverer of the two.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Love is the most melodious of all harmonies and the sentiment of love is innate. Woman is a delightful instrument of pleasure, but it is necessary to know its trembling strings, to study the position of them, the timid keyboard, the fingering so changeful and capricious which befits it.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Do not therefore allow yourself to be led astray by the specious good nature of such an institution as that of twin beds.
It is the silliest, the most treacherous, the most dangerous in the world. Shame and anathema to him who conceived it.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Who would not at the present moment wish to retain the persuasion that wives are virtuous? Are they not the supreme flower of the country? Are they not all blooming creatures, fascinating the world by their beauty, their youth, their life and their love? To believe in their virtue is a sort of social religion, for they are the ornament of the world, and form the chief glory of France.

Physiology of Marriage (1829)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Honoré de Balzac (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.