“If youth were not ignorant and timid, civilization would be impossible.”

— Honoré de Balzac, Father Goriot (1835), trans. Ellen Marriage, Part I

About Honoré de Balzac

1799 – 1850

French novelist, author of "La Comédie humaine".

“Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster which devours everything, that is, familiarity.”

“All human power is a compound of time and patience.”

“Equality may be a right, but no power on earth can convert it into fact.”

“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

“The instructions of an old man are precious.”

“Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom.”

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.”

“I call upon you, young men, to obey your heart, and be the nobility of this land.”

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”