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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The heart often seeks love and affection, but can easily dwell in hatred without pause.
This quote by Honore De Balzac highlights the contrast between love and hatred in human emotions. It suggests that while love requires effort and occasional pauses to rejuvenate, hatred can persist without interruption, indicating its potentially consuming nature. The 'heights of affection' implies that love involves elevation and struggle, whereas the 'slippery slope of hatred' alludes to its effortless, detrimental slide into negativity.
Themes
LoveHatredEmotionsAffectionRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of forgiveness, this quote can illustrate how love requires effort.
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Marriage must incessantly contend with a monster that devours everything: familiarity.
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Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: withered hearts, or empty skulls?
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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
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