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Quotation from Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot) by Honoré de Balzac
“There are no such things as principles; there are only events, and there are no laws but those of expediency”
Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot), Vautrin's proposal, in the garden of the Maison Vauquer, trans. Ellen Marriage (1896)
Vautrin's philosophy of success, part of the long speech in which he offers Rastignac Victorine's fortune.
Citation: "There are no such things as principles; there are only events, and there are no laws but those of expediency" — Honoré de Balzac, Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot), Vautrin's proposal, in the garden of the Maison Vauquer, trans. Ellen Marriage (1896). (id balzac-father-goriot-q3)
Portrait: Honoré de Balzac (1842) detail, Louis-Auguste Bisson, Public domain.
