Women feel that when their power is greatest, they look their best, and that those are their happiest hours; they like power in men, and prefer the strongest even if it is a power that may be their own destruction.
 Honoré de Balzac, Father Goriot (1835). copy citation

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Author Honoré de Balzac
Source Father Goriot
Topic destruction power
Date 1835
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Ellen Marriage
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1237/1237-h/1237-h.htm

Context

“I do not blame you for wanting these things. What sort of men do the women run after? Men of ambition. Men of ambition have stronger frames, their blood is richer in iron, their hearts are warmer than those of ordinary men. Women feel that when their power is greatest, they look their best, and that those are their happiest hours; they like power in men, and prefer the strongest even if it is a power that may be their own destruction. I am going to make an inventory of your desires in order to put the question at issue before you. Here it is:— “We are as hungry as a wolf, and those newly-cut teeth of ours are sharp; what are we to do to keep the pot boiling?” source