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
Vice is perhaps a desire to learn everything.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the pursuit of knowledge can be seen as a vice, indicating excessive desire.
In this quote, Honore De Balzac reflects on the idea that an insatiable thirst for knowledge can lead to negative consequences. While the desire to learn is generally viewed as virtuous, Balzac warns that it can become a flaw—transforming into a vice—if it drives a person to seek knowledge without restraint or consideration of its impact on their life and relationships.
Themes
KnowledgeViceLearningWisdomCuriosity
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on lifelong learning, I referenced Balzac's quote to illustrate the importance of balancing knowledge with wisdom.
More from Honore De Balzac
All quotes →Loyalty 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
The main functions of intelligence, that of inventing solutions and that of verifying them, do not necessarily involve one another. The first partakes of imagination; the second alone is properly logical.
Jean PiagetRead
Everyday is a new life to a wise man.
Dale CarnegieRead
It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
Grace HopperRead
Never do anything that isn't play.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
God tells me to cover myself, to hide my beauty and to tell the world that I’m not here to please men with my body; I’m here to please God. God elevates the dignity of a woman’s body by commanding that it be respected and covered, shown only to the deserving - only to the man I marry.
Yasmin MogahedRead
What difference would a clear vision of my principles, values, and ultimate objectives make in the way I spend my time?
Stephen CoveyRead