No woman has ever existed who did not know perfectly well in her heart what to expect from the superiority or inferiority of a rival.
Honore de BalzacMost women wish to feel that their spirit has been violated. Do they not, indeed, flatter themselves on never yielding save to force?
Honore de BalzacMarriageable girls as well as mothers understand the terms and perils of the lottery called wedlock. That is why women weep at a wedding and men smile.
Honore de BalzacIt 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.
Honore de BalzacIsn'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.
Honore de Balzac