In Honoré de Balzac’s novel "Lost Illusions," Balzac argues that costume is important for people who want to appear to possess what they lack because appearing to have it can be a first step toward obtaining it.

Verified by Lenz · Jun 11, 2026

The Short Version

The claim accurately paraphrases a passage in Lost Illusions. In the novel, Balzac’s narrator explicitly says clothes are crucial for those trying to advance and that the appearance of possession can be the quickest route to actual possession. That framing matches both the wording and the theme of social performance in the book.

Caveats

This is a paraphrase of the novel’s wording, not an exact quotation.
The statement appears as narrator commentary within the fiction; attributing it to Balzac is conventional literary shorthand.
A few secondary sources blur the line’s provenance, but the strongest evidence is the primary text of Lost Illusions itself.

The Receipts

Lost Illusions by Honore De Balzac - Page 3 of 14
Full Text Archive
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lost Illusions, by Honoré de Balzac
Project GutenbergAug 1, 2004
Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac (Ellen Marriage translation)
Project GutenbergAug 1, 2004
Two Poets
Project GutenbergDec 1, 2000
Illusions perdues/Un grand homme de province à Paris
Wikisource
A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
Project GutenbergMar 1, 2005
Eve and David
Project GutenbergMar 1, 2005
Reading "Lost Illusions"
SalonAug 8, 2005
Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
Project GutenbergMar 1, 2005
Balzac Tried to Buy a Waistcoat for Every Day of the Year (and Other Revelations of Parisian Fashion)
Literary HubOct 18, 2021

+ 21 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Honoré De BalzacLost Illusions