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In Paris, When Certain People See You Ready To Set Your Foot In The Stirrup, Some Pull Your Coat-tails, Others Loosen The Buckle Of The Strap That You May Fall And Crack Your Skull; One Wrenches Off Your Horse's Shoes, Another Steals Your Whip, And The Least Treacherous Of Them All Is The Man Whom You See Coming To Fire His Pistol At You Point Blank.

-Honore De Balzac

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In Paris, When Certain

Honore De Balzac

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In Paris, When Certain People See You Ready To Set Your Foot In The Stirrup, Some Pull Your Coat-tails, Others Loosen The Buckle Of The Strap That You May Fall And Crack Your Skull; One Wrenches Off Your Horse's Shoes, Another Steals Your Whip, And The Least Treacherous Of Them All Is The Man Whom You See Coming To Fire His Pistol At You Point Blank.

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Those Sweetly Smiling Angels With Pensive Looks, Innocent Faces, And Cash-boxes For Hearts.

To Get A Traveling Salesman Drunk Is The Height Of Impossibility.

Nature Endows Woman Alternately With A Particular Strength Which Helps Her To Suffer And A Weakness Which Counsels Her To Be Resigned.

Unintelligent Persons Are Like Weeds That Thrive In Good Ground; They Love To Be Amused In Proportion To The Degree In Which They Weary Themselves.

Chance, My Dear, Is The Sovereign Deity In Child-bearing.

Any Man, However Blase Or Depraved, Finds His Love Kindled Anew When He Sees Himself Threatened By A Rival.

The Virtues We Acquire, Which Develop Slowly Within Us, Are The Invisible Links That Bind Each One Of Our Existences To The Others - Existences Which The Spirit Alone Remembers, For Matter Has No Memory For Spiritual Things.

One Of The Glories Of Society Is To Have Created Woman Where Nature Had Made Only A Female; To Have Created A Continuity Of Desire Where Nature Thought Only Of Perpetuating The Species; And, In Fine, To Have Invented Love.

Ideas Devour The Ages As Men Are Devoured By Their Passions. When Man Is Cured, Human Nature Will Cure Itself Perhaps.

It Is Only In The Act Of Nursing That A Woman Realizes Her Motherhood In Visible And Tangible Fashion; It Is A Joy Of Every Moment.

From The Manner In Which A Woman Draws Her Thread At Every Stitch Of Her Needlework, Any Other Woman Can Surmise Her Thoughts.

To Speak Of Love Is To Make Love.

Sects Differ More In Name Than Tenets.

Love May Be Or It May Not, But Where It Is, It Ought To Reveal Itself In Its Immensity.

Yes, I Can Understand That A Man Might Go To A Gambling Table When He Sees That All That Lies Between Him And Death Is His Last Crown.

What Moralist Can Deny That Well-bred And Vicious People Are Much More Agreeable Than Their Virtuous Counterparts? Having Crimes To Atone For, They Provisionally Solicit Indulgence By Showing Leniency Toward The Defects Of Their Judges. Thus They Pass For Excellent Folk.

Nothing About Me Surprises Me.

The Passion Of Love Is Essentially Selfish, While Motherhood Widens The Circle Of Our Feelings.

Clouds Signify The Veil Of The Most High.

Rare Is The Man Who Suffers No Remorse As He Passes From The State Of Confidant To That Of Rival.

The Most Virtuous Women Have Within Them Something That Is Never Chaste.

Power Is Action; The Electoral Principle Is Discussion. No Political Action Is Possible When Discussion Is Permanently Established.

To Stroll Is A Science, It Is The Gastronomy Of The Eye. To Walk Is To Vegetate, To Stroll Is To Live.... To Stroll Is To Enjoy, It Is To Assume A Mind-set, It Is To Admire The Sublime Pictures Of Unhappiness, Of Love, Of Joy, Of Graceful Or Grotesque Portraits; It Is To Plunge One's Vision To The Depths Of A Thousand Existences: Young, It Is To Desire Everything; Old, It Is To Live The Life Of The Young, To Marry Their Passions.

The Wounds Of Self-love Turn Incurable When The Oxide Of Self-love Gets Into Them.

The Response Man Has The Greatest Difficulty In Tolerating Is Pity, Especially When He Warrants It. Hatred Is A Tonic, It Makes One Live, It Inspires Vengeance, But Pity Kills, It Makes Our Weakness Weaker.

The Day Will Dawn When Europe Will Believe Only In The Man Who Tramples Her Underfoot.

One Exits With One's Husband -- One Lives With One's Lover.

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.

No Hawk Swooping Down Upon His Prey, No Stag Improvising New Detours By Which To Trick The Huntsman, No Dog Scenting Game From Afar Is Comparable In Speed To The Celerity Of A Salesman When He Gets Wind A Deal, To His Skill In Tripping Up Or Forestalling A Rival, And To The Art With Which He Sniffs Out And Discovers A Possible Sale.

No Husband Will Ever Be Better Avenged Than By His Wife's Lover.

Perhaps It Is Only Human Nature To Inflict Suffering On Anything That Will Endure Suffering, Whether By Reason Of Its Genuine Humility, Or Indifference, Or Sheer Helplessness.

Like Most Young People, These Two Attributed To The World Their Own Intelligence And Virtues. Youth Who Knows No Failure Has No Mercy On The Faults Of Other People; But It Has Also A Sublime Faith In Them.

Ah! How Much A Mother Learns From Her Child! The Constant Protection Of A Helpless Being Forces Us To So Strict An Alliance With Virtue, That A Woman Never Shows To Full Advantage Except As A Mother. Then Alone Can Her Character Expand In The Fulfillment Of All Life's Duties And The Enjoyment Of All Its Pleasures.

One Admirable Trait In Women Is Their Lack Of Illusions About Themselves. They Never Reason About Their Most Blameworthy Actions; Their Feelings Carry Them Away. Even Their Dissimulation Comes Naturally To Them, And In Them Crime Is Free Of All Baseness. Most Of The Time They Simply Do Not Know How It Happened.

They [twin Beds] Are The Most Stupid, The Most Perfidious, And The Most Dangerous Invention In The World. Shame And A Curse On Who Thought Of Them.

A Woman In The Depths Of Despair Proves So Persuasive That She Wrenches The Forgiveness Lurking Deep In The Heart Of Her Lover. This Is All The More True When That Woman Is Young, Pretty, And So Decollete As To Emerge From The Neck Of Her Gown In The Costume Of Eve.

The More You Judge, The Less You Love.

If The Human Heart Sometimes Finds Moments Of Pause As It Ascends The Slopes Of Affection, It Rarely Halts On The Way Down.

Between The Daylight Gambler And The Player At Night There Is The Same Difference That Lies Between A Careless Husband And The Lover Swooning Under His Lady's Window.

Alas, Two Men Are Often Necessary To Provide A Woman With A Perfect Lover, Just As In Literature A Writer Composes A Type Only By Employing The Singularities Of Several Similar Characters.

A Mother Who Is Really A Mother Is Never Free.

What Makes Friendship Indissolute And What Doubles Its Charms Is A Feeling We Find Lacking In Love: I Mean Certitude.

Manners Are The Hypocrisy Of A Nation.

A Lui La Foi, A' Elle Le Doute, A' Elle Le Fardeau Le Plus Lourd: La Femme Ne Souffre-t-elle Pas Toujours Pour Deux? For Him, Faith; For Her, Doubt And For Her Theheavier Load: Does Not The Woman Always Suffer For Both?

Genius Is Answerable Only To Itself; It Is The Sole Judge Of The Means, Since It Alone Knows The End; Thus Genius Must Consider Itself As Above The Law, For It Is The Task Of Genius To Remake The Law; Moreover The Man Who Frees Himself From His Time And Place May Take Everything, Hazard Everything, For Everything Is His By Right.

In Smart Society Men Are Jealous Of One Another After The Fashion Of Women.

Un Mari, Comme Un Gouvernement, Ne Doit Jamais Avouer De Faute. A Husband, Like A Government, Never Needs To Admit A Fault.

Love, According To Our Contemporary Poets, Is A Privilege Which Two Beings Confer Upon One Another, Whereby They May Mutually Cause One Another Much Sorrow Over Absolutely Nothing.

Grief Ennobles The Commonest People Because It Has Its Own Essential Grandeur. To Shine With The Luster Of Grief, A Person Need Only Be Sincere.

Vice Is Perhaps A Desire To Learn Everything.

Desire To Learn

Coffee Falls Into The Stomach... Ideas Begin To Move, Things Remembered Arrive At Full Gallop... The Shafts Of Wit Start Up Like Sharp-shooters, Similes Arise, The Paper Is Covered With Ink...

The Man Whom Fate Employs To Awaken Love In The Heart Of A Young Girl Is Often Unaware Of His Work And Therefore Leaves It Uncompleted.

By And Large, Women Have A Faith And A Morality Peculiar To Themselves; They Believe In The Reality Of Everything That Serves Their Interest And Their Passions.

There Is Something Great And Terrible About Suicide.

The Love Of Nature Is The Only Love That Does Not Deceive Human Hopes.

Noble Passions Are Like Vices: The More They Are Satisfied, The Greater They Grow, Mothers And Gamblers Are Insatiable.

In The First Woman We Love, We Love Everything. Growing Older, We Love The Woman Only.

For The Person Who Loves God, Worship Is The Daily Bread Of Patience.

The Weakest Being On Earth Can Accomplish Feats Of Strength. The Frailest Urchin Will Ring Every Doorbell On The Street In Arctic Weather Or Hoist Himself Aloft To Inscribe His Name On A Virgin Monument.

And He, Like Many Jaded People, Had Few Pleasures Left In Life Save Good Food And Drink.

Conviction Brings A Silent, Indefinable Beauty Into Faces Made Of The Commonest Human Clay; The Devout Worshiper At Any Shrine Reflects Something Of Its Golden Glow, Even As The Glory Of A Noble Love Shines Like A Sort Of Light From A Woman's Face.

It Is Not Hope But Despair That Gives Us The Measure Of Our Ambitions. We May Yield Secretly To Beautiful Poems Of Hope But Grief Looms Start And Stripped Of All Veils.

We Are Scarcely Apt To Berate The Source Of Enjoyment.

Few Men Are Raised In Our Estimation By Being Too Closely Examined.

In Paris, The Greatest Expression Of Personal Satisfaction Known To Man Is The Smirk On The Face Of A Male, Highly Pleased With Himself As He Leaves The Boudoir Of A Lady.

Virtue Is Always Too Much Of A Piece And Too Ignorant Of Those Shades Of Feeling And Of Temperament That Enable Us To Squint When We Are Placed In A False Position.

A Woman Filled With Faith In The One She Loves Is The Creation Of A Novelist's Imagination.

Our Worst Misfortunes Never Happen, And Most Miseries Lie In Anticipation.

Nothing Is Irredeemably Ugly But Sin.

Stupidity Assumes Two Forms, It Speaks Or Is Silent. Mute Stupidity Is Bearable.

I Should Like One Of These Days To Be So Well Known, So Popular, So Celebrated, So Famous, That It Would Permit Me . . . To Break Wind In Society, And Society Would Think It A Most Natural Thing.

Le Coeur D'une Me' Re Est Un Ab|"me Au Fond Duquel Se Trouve Toujours Un Pardon. A Mother'sheart Isanabyss Atthebottomof Whichthere Is Always Forgiveness.

An Unfulfilled Vocation Drains The Color From A Man's Entire Existence.

Give To A Wounded Heart Seclusion; Consolation Nor Reason Ever Effected Anything In Such A Case.

Like Hunger, Physical Love Is A Necessity. But Man's Appetite For Amour Is Never So Regular Or So Sustained As His Appetite For The Delights Of The Table.

Nothing Can Afford A Woman Greater Pleasure Than To Hear Tender Words Of Love. The Strictest, Most Devout Woman Will Listen Even If She Must Not Answer.

Virtue, My Pet, Is An Abstract Idea, Varying In Its Manifestations With The Surroundings. Virtue In Provence, In Constantinople, In London, And In Paris Bears Very Different Fruit, But Is None The Less Virtue.

It Is Easy To Sit Up And Take Notice, What Is Difficult Is Getting Up And Taking Action.

The Causes That Govern The Heart Appear To Be Wholly Alien To The Results Achieved. Are The Forces That Moved A Desperate Criminal The Same That Fill A Martyr With Pride, As Both Mount The Scaffold?

Power Is Not Revealed By Striking Hard Or Often, But By Striking True.

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.

Handsome Widows, After A Twelve-month, Enjoy A Latitude And Longitude Without Limit.

Physically, A Man Is A Man For A Much Longer Time Than A Woman Is A Woman.

The Press Is Like A Woman: Sublime When It Lies, It Will Not Let Go Until It Has Forced You To Believe It. The Public, Like A Foolish Husband, Always Succumbs.

A Good Husband Is Never The First To Go To Sleep At Night Or The Last To Awake In The Morning.

A Girl's Coquetry Is Of The Simplest, She Thinks That All Is Said When The Veil Is Laid Aside; A Woman's Coquetry Is Endless, She Shrouds Herself In Veil After Veil, She Satisfies Every Demand Of Man's Vanity, The Novice Responds But To One.

Women Themselves Are So Happy, And So Beautiful, When They're Strong, That They Naturally Choose Powerful Men, Even If That Power's So Enermous There's A Real Risk It Could Shatter Them.

Political Liberty, The Peace Of A Nation, And Science Itself Are Gifts For Which Fate Demands A Heavy Tax In Blood!

White And Shining Virgin Of All Human Virtues, Ark Of The Covenant Between Earth And Heaven, Tender And Strong Companion Partaking Of The Lion And Of The Lamb, Prayer! Prayer Will Give You The Key Of Heaven! Bold And Pure As Innocence, Strong, Like All That Is Single And Simple, This Glorious, Invincible Queen Rests, Nevertheless, On The Material World; She Takes Possession Of It; Like The Sun, She Clasps It In A Circle Of Light.

Above All Do Not Ask That Justice Be Just: It Is Just, Because It Is Justice. The Idea Of A Just Justice Could Have Originated Only In The Brain Of An Anarchist.

Reading Brings Us Unknown Friends

We Cannot Confront Solitude Without Moral Resources.

Isn't It Really Quite Extraordinary To See That, Since Man Took His First Step, No One Has Asked Himself Why He Walks, How He Walks, If He Has Ever Walked, If He Could Walk Better, What He Achieves In Walking .. Questions That Are Tied To All The Philosophical, Psychological, And Political Systems Which Preoccupy The World.

Temperament Is The Thermometer Of Character.

Modern Reformers Offer Nebulous Theories Or Write Philanthropic Novels. But Your Thief Acts! He Is As Clear As A Fact And As Logical As A Punch On The Nose! And What A Style He Has!

Conventions Are Often More Cruel Than The Law.

A Monster Which Devours Everything - That Is Familiarity.

It's Catastrophies Which Turn Wise And Strong People Into Philosophers.

Holding This Book In Your Hand, Sinking Back In Your Soft Armchair, You Will Say To Yourself: Perhaps It Will Amuse Me. And After You Have Read This Story Of Great Misfortunes, You Will No Doubt Dine Well, Blaming The Author For Your Own Insensitivity, Accusing Him Of Wild Exaggeration And Flights Of Fancy. But Rest Assured: This Tragedy Is Not A Fiction. All Is True.

To Those Who Have Exhausted Politics, Nothing Remains But Abstract Thought.

You're A Fine Fastidious Young Man, As Proud As A Lion, As Gentle As A Girl. You'd Make A Good Catch For The Devil.

Does Anyone Know Where These Gondolas Of Paris Come From? [fr., Ne Sait On Pas Ou Viennent Ces Gondoles Parisiennes?]

A Letter Is A Soul, So Faithful An Echo Of The Speaking Voice That To The Sensitive It Is Among The Richest Treasures Of Love.

Nowhere But In France Are People So Strictly Observant Of Great Matters And So Disdainfully Indulgent About Small Ones.

The More One Judges, The Less One Loves.

Vulgar Souls Look Hastily And Superficially At The Sea And Accuse It Of Monotony; Other More Privileged Beings Could Spend A Lifetime Admiring It And Discovering New And Changing Phenomena That Delight Them. So It Is With Love.

A Woman Must Be A Genius To Create A Good Husband.

Where Poverty Ceases, Avarice Begins.

Finance, Like Time, Devours Its Own Children.

Hope Is A Light Diet, But Very Stimulating.

In France We Can Cauterize Wounds But We Do Not Yet Know Any Remedy For The Injuries Inflicted By A Bon Mot.

Love Is Like Some Fresh Spring, First A Stream And Then A River, Changing Its Aspect And Its Nature As It Flows To Plunge Itself In Some Boundless Ocean, Where Restricted Natures Only Find Monotony, But Where Great Souls Are Engulfed In Endless Contemplation.

Remorse Is Impotence, Impotence Which Sins Again. Repentance Alone Is Powerful; It Ends All.

In Intimate Family Life, There Comes A Moment When Children, Willingly Or No, Become The Judges Of Their Parents.

It Is Always Assumed By The Empty-headed, Who Chatter About Themselves For Want Of Something Better, That People Who Do Not Discuss Their Affairs Openly Must Have Something To Hide.

Love Is A Religion, And Its Rituals Cost More Than Those Of Other Religions. It Goes By Quickly And, Like A Street Urchin, It Likes To Mark Its Passage By A Trail Of Devastation.

Friendships Last When Each Friend Thinks He Has A Slight Superiority Over The Other.

Men Are So Made That They Can Resist Sound Argument, And Yet Yield To A Glance.

The Secret Of The Nobility And Beauty Of Great Ladies Lies In The Art With Which They Can Shed Their Veils. In Such Situations, They Become Like Ancient Statues. If They Kept The Merest Scarf On, They Would Be Lewd. Your Bourgeois Woman Will Always Try To Cover Her Nakedness.

Passion Is Universal Humanity. Without It Religion, History, Romance And Art Would Be Useless.

Are Not Poets Men Who Fulfill Their Hopes Prematurely?

No Man Has Ever Yet Discovered The Way To Give Friendly Advice To Any Woman, Not Even To His Own Wife.

Woman Is Stronger By Virtue Of Her Feelings Than Man By Virtue Of His Power.

When Women Love, They Forgive Everything...

Lofty Souls Are Always Inclined To Make A Virtue Of Misfortune.

There Is Neither Vice Nor Virtue, There Are Only Circumstances.

Mud, Raised By Hurricanes, Wells Up In The Noblest And Purest Of Hearts.

To Live In The Presence Of Great Truths And Eternal Laws, To Be Led By Permanent Ideals - That Is What Keeps A Man Patient When The World Ignores Him, And Calm And Unspoiled When The World Praises Him.

To Man, Faith; To Woman, Doubt. She Bears The Heavier Burden. Does Not Woman Invariably Suffer For Two?

Everything Is Bilateral In The Domain Of Thought. Ideas Are Binary. Janus Is The Myth Of Criticism And The Symbol Of Genius. Only God Is Triangular!

We Are Never Either So Wretched Or So Happy As We Say We Are.

White Hair Often Covers The Head, But The Heart That Holds It Is Ever Young.

The Country Is Provincial; It Becomes Ridiculous When It Tries To Ape Paris.

Envy Lurks At The Bottom Of The Human Heart Like A Viper In Its Hole.

How Did You Get Back?' Asked Vautrin. 'i Walked,' Replied Eugene. 'i Wouldn't Like Half-pleasures, Myself,' Observed The Tempter. 'i'd Want To Go There In My Own Carriage, Have My Own Box, And Come Back In Comfort. All Or Nothing, That's My Motto.' 'and A Very Good One,' Said Madame Vauquer.

Possibly The Words Materialism And Spirituality Express Two Sides Of One And The Same Fact.

Our Heart Is A Treasury; If You Pour Out All Its Wealth At Once, You Are Bankrupt.

One Day, About The Middle Of July 1838, One Of The Carriages, Lately Introduced To Paris Cabstands, And Known As Milords, Was Driving Down The Rue De L'universite, Conveying A Stout Man Of Middle Height In The Uniform Of A Captain Of The National Guard.

I Prefer Thought To Action, An Idea To A Transaction, Contemplation To Activity.

Evasion Is Unworthy Of Us, And Is Always The Intimate Of Equivocation.

One Of The Most Detestable Habits Of Lilliputian Minds Is To Find Their Own Littleness In Others.

I Do Not Regard A Broker As A Member Of The Human Race.

The Motto Of Chivalry Is Also The Motto Of Wisdom; To Serve All, But Love Only One.

All Genuinely Noble Women Prefer Truth To Falsehood. As The Russians With Their Czar, They Are Unwilling To See Their Idol Degraded; They Want To Be Proud Of The Domination They Accept.

Noble Hearts Are Neither Jealous Nor Afraid Because Jealousy Spells Doubt And Fear Spells Pettiness.

The Man Whose Action Habitually Bears The Stamp Of His Mind Is A Genius, But The Greatest Genius Is Not Always Equal To Himself, Or He Would Cease To Be Human.

To Have Fame Follow Us Is Well, But It Is Not A Desirable Avant-courier.

True Love Is Mixed Up With Birdlike Squabbles, In Which The Disputants Wound Each Other To The Quick; But A Quarrel Without Animus Is, On The Contrary, Apiece Of Flattery To The Dupe's Conceit.

At Thirty Years A Woman Asks Her Lover To Give Her Back The Esteem She Has Forfeited For His Sake; She Lives Only For Him, Her Thoughts Are Full Of His Future, He Must Have A Great Career, She Bids Him Make It Glorious; She Can Obey, Entreat, Command, Humble Herself, Or Rise In Pride; Times Without Number She Brings Comfort When A Young Girl Can Only Make Moan.

Art's Greatest Efforts Are Invariably A Timid Counterfeit Of Nature.

Nothing Is A Greater Impediment To Being On Good Terms With Others Than Being Ill At Ease With Yourself.

What Is Art? Nature Concentrated.

Kindness Steers No Easy Course. Attributing It To Character, We Seldom Recognize The Secret Efforts Of A Noble Heart, Whereas We Reward Really Wicked People For The Evil They Refrain From Committing.

To Promote Laughter Without Joining In It Greatly Heightens The Effect.

An Ounce Of Courage Will Go Farther With Women Than A Pound Of Timidity.

In A World Of Hunchbacks, A Fine Figure Becomes A Monstrosity.

For Pain Is Perhaps But A Violent Pleasure? Who Could Determine The Point Where Pleasure Becomes Pain, Where Pain Is Still A Pleasure? Is Not The Utmost Brightness Of The Ideal World Soothing To Us, While The Lightest Shadows Of The Physical World Annoy?

Beaucoup D'hommes Ont Un Orgueil Qui Les Pousse A' Cacher Leurs Combats Et A' Ne Se Montrer Que Victorieux. Many Men Have Pride That Causes Them To Hide Their Combats And To Only Show Themselves Victorious.

Genuine Sorrows Are Very Tranquil In Appearance In The Deep Bed They Have Dug For Themselves. But, Seeming To Slumber, They Corrode The Soul Like That Frightful Acid Which Penetrates Crystal.

To Say To A Rich Man: You Are Poor! Is To Tell The Archbishop Of Granada That His Sermons Are Worthless.

Men Are Perfectly Willing To Abandon A Woman But They Refuse To Be Abandoned By Her.

If We Could But Paint With The Hand What We See With The Eye.

This Surface Good-nature Which Captivates A New Acquaintance And Is No Bar To Treachery, Which Knows No Scruple And Is Never At Fault For An Excuse, Which Makes An Outcry At The Wound Which It Condones, Is One Of The Most Distinctive Features Of The Journalist. This Camaraderie (the Word Is A Stroke Of Genius) Corrodes The Noblest Minds; It Eats Into Their Pride Like Rust, Kills The Germ Of Great Deeds, And Lends A Sanction To Moral Cowardice.

If Certain Women Walk Straight Into Adultery, There Are Many Others Who Cling To Numerous Hopes, And Commit Sin Only After Wandering Through A Maze Of Sorrows.

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.

Gratitude Is A Fool's Word; We Find It In The Dictionary, But It Is Not In The Heart Of Man.

If The Artist Does Not Fling Himself, Without Reflecting, Into His Work, As Curtis Flung Himself Into The Yawning Gulf, As The Soldier Flings Himself Into The Enemy's Trenches, And If, Once In This Crater, He Does Not Work Like A Miner On Whom The Walls Of His Gallery Have Fallen In; If He Contemplates Difficulties Instead Of Overcoming Them One By One ... He Is Simply Looking On At The Suicide Of His Own Talent.

Economized Love Is Never Real Love.

During The Great Storms Of Our Lives We Imitate Those Captains Who Jettison Their Weightiest Cargo.

Man's Condition Is Horrible Because, No Matter What Form His Happiness May Take, It Arises From Some Species Of Ignorance.

Though The Human Heart May Have To Pause For Rest When Climbing The Heights Of Affection It Rarely Stops On The Slippery Slope Of Hatred.

They Ended As All Great Passions Do End - By A Misunderstanding.

A Wife Is Property That One Acquires By Contract, She Is Transferable, Because Possession Of Her Requires Title; In Fact, Woman Is, So To Speak, Only Man's Appendage; Consequently, Slice, Cut, Clip Her, You Have All Rights To Her.

The Habits Of Every Animal Are, At Least In The Eyes Of Man, Constantly Similar In All Ages. But The Habits, The Clothes, The Words And The Dwelling Of A Prince, A Banker, An Artist, A Bourgeois, A Priest And A Pauper, Are Wholly Dissimilar And Change At The Will Of Civilizations.

Authentic Love Always Assumes The Mystery Of Modesty, Even In Its Expression, Because Actions Speak Louder Than Words. Unlike A Feigned Love, It Feels No Need To Set A Conflagration.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

When An Intelligent Man Reaches The Point Of Inviting Self-explanation And Offers Surrendering The Key To His Heart, He Is Assuredly Riding A Drunken Horse.

Marriage Is A Fight To The Death. Before Contracting It, The Two Parties Concerned Implore The Benediction Of Heaven Because To Promise To Love Each Other Forever Is The Rashest Of Enterprises.

The Great Secret Of Social Alchemy Is To Profit Best From Each Stage In Our Lives, To Gather All Its Leaves In Spring, All Its Flowers In Summer, And All Its Fruits In Autumn.

Suffering Predisposes The Mind To Devoutness; And Most Young Girls, Prompted By Instinctive Tenderness, Lean Towards Mysticism, The Obscurer Side Of Religion.

When You Doubt Your Power, You Give Power To Your Doubt.

The Duration Of Passion Is Proportionate With The Original Resistance Of The Woman.

Emulation Admires And Strives To Imitate Great Actions; Envy Is Only Moved To Malice.

In All Lands, Sailors Form A Race Apart. They Profess A Congenital Contempt For Landlubbers. As For The Tradesman, He Understands Nothing Of Sailors Nor Cares A Fig About Them. He Is Content To Rob Them If He Can.

Nobody Loves A Woman Because She Is Handsome Or Ugly, Stupid Or Intelligent. We Love Because We Love.

Falling In Love

Imagination Helps The Realism Of Every Detail, And Only Sees The Beauties Of The Work.

No Man Should Marry Until He Has Studied Anatomy And Dissected At Least One Woman.

The Smallest Flower Is A Thought, A Life Answering To Some Feature Of The Great Whole, Of Whom They Have A Persistent Intuition.

We Do Not Attach Ourselves Lastingly To Anything That Has Not Cost Us Care, Labor Or Longing.

There Is A Cure For Temptation. What? Yielding To It.

Creole Women Take After Europe In Their Intelligence, After The Tropics In The Illogical Violence Of Their Passions, And After The Indies In The Apathetic Indolence With Which They Commit Or Suffer Good And Evil.

She Who Is Really A Wife, One In Heart, Flesh, And Bone, Must Follow Wherever He Leads, In Whom Her Life, Her Strength, Her Pride, And Happiness Are Centered.

Vocations Which We Wanted To Pursue, But Didn't, Bleed, Like Colors, On The Whole Of Our Existence.

The Questioning Spirit Is The Rebellious Spirit. A Rebellion Is Always Either A Cloak To Hide A Prince, Or The Swaddling Wrapper Of A New Rule.

How Can We Explain The Perpetuity Of Envy--a Vice Which Yields No Return?

In Paris Every Man Must Have Had A Love Affair. What Woman Wants Something That No Other Woman Ever Wanted.

What Patient Can Trust The Knowledge Of A Physician Without Reputation Or Furniture, In A Period When Publicity Is All-powerful And When The Government Gilds The Lamp Posts On The Place De La Concorde In Order To Dazzle The Poor?

Women See Everything Or Nothing According To The Inclination Of Their Hearts. Love Is Their Sole Light.

Death Is As Unexpected In His Caprice As A Courtesan In Her Disdain; But Death Is Truer – Death Has Never Forsaken Any Man

Remorse Is Impotent; It Will Repeat Its Faults. Repentance Only Is A True Force; It Puts An End To Everything.

Journalists Grow Accustomed To Seeing Evil And They Let It Pass; They Proceed To Approve It, And They End By Committing It Themselves.

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