Your ideal man must have more soul than fire, more nobility and self-command than passion.
 Honoré de Balzac, Letters of Two Brides (1841). copy citation

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Author Honoré de Balzac
Source Letters of Two Brides
Topic nobility 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

“For you, my darling, the illusions of love are possible; for me, only the facts of homely life remain. Yes, your love seems to me a dream! Therefore I find it hard to understand why you are determined to throw so much romance over it. Your ideal man must have more soul than fire, more nobility and self-command than passion. You persist in trying to clothe in living form the dream ideal of a girl on the threshold of life; you demand sacrifices for the pleasure of rewarding them; you submit your Felipe to tests in order to ascertain whether desire, hope, and curiosity are enduring in their nature.” source