“ To a woman what can be sweeter than to see passion ever held in check by tenderness, and the man who is her master stayed, like a timid suitor, by a word from her, within the limits that she chooses? ”
Honoré de Balzac, Letters of Two Brides (1841). copy citation
| Author | Honoré de Balzac |
|---|---|
| Source | Letters of Two Brides |
| Topic | tenderness passion |
| Date | 1841 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by R. S. Scott |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1941/1941-h/1941-h.htm |
Context
“Then Gaston wishes to look at me, and he gazes on my face as though it were a picture, losing himself in this contemplation, which, as you may suppose, is not one-sided. Tears rise to the eyes of both as we think of our love and tremble. I am still the mistress, pretending, that is, to give less than I receive, and I revel in this deception. To a woman what can be sweeter than to see passion ever held in check by tenderness, and the man who is her master stayed, like a timid suitor, by a word from her, within the limits that she chooses?
You asked me to describe him; but, Renee, it is not possible to make a portrait of the man we love. How could the heart be kept out of the work? Besides, to be frank between ourselves, we may admit that one of the dire effects of civilization on our manners is to make of man in society a being so utterly different from the natural man of strong feeling, that sometimes not a single point of likeness can be found between these two aspects of the same person.”
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