L'homme qui peut empreindre perpétuellement la pensée dans le fait est un homme de génie ; mais l'homme qui a le plus de génie ne le déploie pas à to… - Honoré de Balzac

Ideas consume the ages as passions consume men. When man is cured, humanity may possibly cure itself.

No one ought even to desert a woman after throwing her a heap of gold in her distress! He ought to love her forever! You are young, only twenty-one, and kind and upright and fine. You'll ask me how a woman can take money from a man. Oh, God, isn't it natural to share everything with the one we owe all our happiness to? When one has given everything, how can one quibble about a mere portion of it? Money is important only when feeling has ceased. Isn't one bound for life? How can you foresee separation when you think someone loves you? When a man swears eternal love — how can there be any separate concerns in that case?

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.