Those who follow me on Twitter will know that I like to collect quotations – little nuggets of wisdom and inspiration from great minds. A name that crops up frequently is that of nineteenth-century French writer Honoré de Balzac. Here are just some of the Balzac quotations that I share:

The more one judges, the less one loves.

Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.

True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure.

Some day you will find out that there is far more happiness in another’s happiness than in your own.

A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.

There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.

He had a way with words, don’t you think? And there is so much heart and truth in his writing, which is why Balzac has been one of my favourite writers since I read French literature at university.

In fact, the heart and truth in Balzac’s literature is fundamental. Balzac was a leading figure in the Realism artistic movement of the mid-nineteenth century, which saw writers focusing on the everyday, the ordinary and the banal, rather than romanticised depictions of life. He removed all filters and described life just as it was; he created characters that were starkly human – complex and multi-faceted. His realism inspired many writers, most notably Charles Dickens; indeed, Balzac has been called ‘the French Dickens’, though that seems unfair to me, because Balzac came first, carving the path for emotionally powerful realism in fiction.

I find Balzac fascinating not only for his writing, but for his work ethic as a writer. His magnus opus is La Comédie Humaine (The Human Comedy). This collection of interlinking stories is vast: no less than 91 completed stories, novels and essays, and some 46 that were unfinished at the time of Balzac’s death. The sheer magnitude of his writing endeavour is astonishing. More astonishing, though, is how Balzac wrote.

To say that Balzac was devoted to his craft is an understatement. He was not afraid to close the door on the world and be labelled a hermit. He routinely rose from his bed at midnight and wrote through the night and following day, fuelled by coffee. Once he wrote for two days solid, he said, with only a three-hour break. He wrote incredibly quickly, but then revised obsessively. He cared very much about every single word that was published under his name.

‘All happiness depends on courage and work,’ Balzac wrote, and that truth is evident in his writing. He worked tirelessly, and he was bold in how he wrote and in his honest depictions of life; of its light and its darkness. And that light, it shines so brightly. I will leave you with one of my favourite Balzac quotations, full of heart and truth – and light.

‘True love is eternal, infinite and always like itself. It’s always equal and pure. Without violent demonstrations: It is seen with white hairs and is always young at heart.’