People exaggerate both happiness and unhappiness; we are never so fortunate nor so unfortunate as people say we are.

[On amplifie également le malheur et le boneur, nous ne sommes jamais ni si malheureux, ni si heureux qu’on le dit.]

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) French novelist, playwright

Modeste Mignon, ch. 24 (1844) [tr. Wormeley]