One can imagine the look the two lovers exchanged; it was like a flame, for virtuous lovers have not a shred of hypocrisy.
Honore De BalzacRead
Imaginative, sanguine men will never recognize that in negotiations the most dangerous moment of all is when everything is moving according to their wishes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Underestimating the risks when things seem to be going perfectly can lead to failure.
This quote highlights the irony that the most perilous times in negotiations or decision-making often arise when everything appears to be going smoothly. It serves as a cautionary reminder for imaginative and optimistic individuals to remain vigilant and mindful of potential pitfalls, even when circumstances seem favorable, as complacency can lead to unexpected challenges.
Themes
NegotiationRiskComplacencyVigilanceOpportunity
In practice
Example use cases
A business leader might use this quote during a negotiation workshop to emphasize the importance of staying alert.
More from Honore De Balzac
All quotes βLoyalty in time of need is possibly one of the noblest of victories a courtier can win over himself.
Honore De BalzacRead
Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster that devours everything: familiarity.
Honore De BalzacRead
Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: withered hearts, or empty skulls?
Honore De BalzacRead
However gross a man may be, the minute he expresses a strong and genuine affection, some inner secretion alters his features, animates his gestures, and colors his voice. The stupidest man will often, under the stress of passion, achieve heights of eloquence, in thought if not in language, and seem to move in some luminous sphere. Goriot's voice and gesture had at this moment the power of communication that characterizes the great actor. Are not our finer feelings the poems of the human will?
Honore De BalzacRead
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.
Honore De BalzacRead
Similar quotes
Do not repeat after me words that you do not understand. Do not merely put on a mask of my ideas, for it will be an illusion and you will thereby deceive yourself.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.
Bertrand RussellRead
A boy told me if he roller-skated fast enough his loneliness couldn't catch up to him, the best reason I ever heard for trying to be a champion. What I wonder tonight pedaling hard down King William Street is if it translates to bicycles. A victory! To leave your loneliness panting behind you on some street corner while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas, pink petals that have never felt loneliness, no matter how slowly they fell.
Naomi Shihab NyeRead
You're afraid of imagination and even more afraid of dreams. Afraid of the resposibility that begins in dreams. But you have to sleep and dreams are a part of sleep. When you're awake you can suppress imagination but you can't supress dreams.
Haruki MurakamiRead
Your birthday is the vintage of your wine; the mark that warns you of your future.
AesopRead
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.
Robert GreeneRead