We are only at our ease among our equals; we are uncomfortable in any other society.
 Honoré de Balzac, Lost Illusions (1843). copy citation

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Author Honoré de Balzac
Source Lost Illusions
Topic society ease
Date 1843
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Ellen Marriage
Weblink https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13159/pg13159.html

Context

“to-morrow night I shall set out, and you are coming with me, are you not? You shall start first. I will overtake you between Mansle and Ruffec, and we shall soon be in Paris. There, beloved, is the life for a man who has anything in him. We are only at our ease among our equals; we are uncomfortable in any other society. Paris, besides, is the capital of the intellectual world, the stage on which you will succeed; overleap the gulf that separates us quickly. You must not allow your ideas to grow rancid in the provinces;” source