Political liberty, the tranquility of a nation, nay, knowledge itself, are gifts on which destiny has laid a tax of blood!
“

La liberté politique, la tranquillité d'une nation, la science même, sont des présents pour lesquels le destin prélève des impôts de sang !

— Political liberty

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "La liberté politique, la tranquillité d'une nation, la science même, sont des présents pour lesquels le destin prélève des impôts de sang !" in the context of "Political liberty, the tranquility of a nation, nay, knowledge itself, are gifts on which destiny has laid a tax of blood!" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Honoré de Balzac" (Quotes, About Catherine de' Medici (1842), Part III: The Two Dreams) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Honoré de Balzac

About Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac (20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist. Along with Flaubert, he is generally regarded as a founding father of realism in European literature.