The fate of animals is of greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous; it is indissolubly connected with the fate of men.

Bu suçlamalarda bulunurken, 29 temmuz 1881 tarihli Basın Yasasının 30 ve 31. maddelerine karşı geldiğimi, bu yasanın lekeleme suçlarına ceza belirlediğini bilmiyor değilim. İsteyerek kendimi tehlikeye atıyorum.

She might have liked to try to strangle him with those slender fingers of hers, but she wanted to make a job of it and this great patience with which she waited for her claws...

All of a sudden, in the good-natured child, the woman stood revealed, a disturbing woman with all the impulsive madness of her sex, opening the gates of the unknown world of desire. Nana was still...

Death had to take her little by little, bit by bit, dragging her along to the bitter end of the miserable existence she’d made for herself. They never even knew what she did die of....

For a few moments, raising his arms desperately, the Reverend Mouret implored Heaven. His shoulder-blades cracked, with such fantastic force did he pray. But soon enough his arms fell to his sides, his hopes abashed....

The Empire was on the point of turning Paris into the bawdy house of Europe. The gang of fortune-seekers who had succeeded in stealing a throne required a reign of adventures, shady transactions, sold consciences,...

There Albine lay, panting, exhausted by love, her hands clutched closer and closer to her heart, breathing her last. She parted her lips, seeking the kiss which should obliterate her, and then the hyacinths and...

They again kissed each other and fell asleep. The patch of light on the ceiling now seemed to be assuming the shape of a terrified eye, that stared wildly and fixedly upon the pale, slumbering...

When younger, he had been fun-loving to the point of tedium.

If you shut up truth, and bury it underground, it will but grow.

En sonra, birinci savaş konseyini, bir sanığa gizli kalan bir belgeye dayanarak hüküm giydirdiği için hukuku çiğnemekle suçluyorum. İkinci savaş konseyini de üstten gelen emre uyarak, bir suçluyu, suçunu bile bile temize çıkarıp ağır adli...

The fate of animals is of far greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous.

She was cold by nature, self-love predominating over passion; rather than being virtuous, she preferred to have her pleasures all to herself.

Living in musty shadows and dismal, oppressive silence, Thérèse could see her whole life stretching out before her totally void, bringing night after night the same cold bed and morning after morning the same empty...

La certitude d’avoir empêche de désirer.

In Paris, everything’s for sale: wise virgins, foolish virgins, truth and lies, tears and smiles.

…the water was scarcely inviting; for, through fear lest the output of the source should not suffice, the Fathers of the Grotto only allowed the water of the baths to be changed twice a day....

When sometimes, behind his back, they called him a tyrant, he merely smiled and uttered this profound observation: “If some day I turn liberal, they will say I have let them down.

They dared not peer down into their own natures, down into the feverish confusion that filled their minds with a kind of dense, acrid mist.

The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it.

Bir tek tutkum var; Bunca acılar çeken ve mutluluğa hakkı olan insanlık adına duyduğum aydınlık tutkusu. Coşkulu protestom, yüreğimden kopan çığlıktan başka bir şey değildir. Beni ağır ceza mahkemesi önüne çıkarmayı göze alsınlar ve herkesin...

Kings may usurp thrones, republics may be established, but the town scarcely stirs. Plassan sleeps while Paris fights.

She [Nana] listened to his [Steiner’s] propositions, turning them down every time with a shake of the head and that provocative laughter which is peculiar to full-bodied blondes.

Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest.

The thought is a deed. Of all deeds she fertilizes the world most.

Etre pauvre à Paris, c’est être pauvre deux fois.

But his doubts were again coming back to him; when you needed a miracle to gain belief, it means that you are incapable of believing. There is no need for the Almighty to prove His...

He [Eugène Rougon] believed exclusively in himself; where another saw reasons, Rougon possessed convictions; he subordinated everything to the incessant aggrandisement of his own ego. Despite being utterly devoid of real self-indulgence, he nevertheless indulged...

Sin became a luxury, a flower set in her hair, a diamond fastened on her brow.

One forges one’s style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines.

Onlar göze aldıklarına göre, ben de göze alacağım. Gerçeği söyleyeceğim, çünkü kendisine kurala uygun olarak başvurulan adaletin bunu eksiksiz olarak yapmaması durumunda, söyleyeceğime söz verdim. Benim görevim konuşmak, suç ortağı olmak istemiyorum. Yoksa gecelerim orada,...

A new dynasty is never founded without a struggle. Blood makes good manure. It will be a good thing for the Rougon family to be founded on a massacre, like many illustrious families.”–Monsieur de Carnavant

What everyone agreed was not very nice, was the way Clémence had carried on. Obviously, she wasn’t the kind of girl you’d ask again: she’d ended up showing off everything she’d got, and she’d puked...

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.

Ever since the morning, Pierre had beheld many frightful sufferings in that woeful white train. But none had so distressed his soul as did that wretched female skeleton, liquefying in the midst of its lace...

Hélène, her eyes once more raised and remote, was deep in a dream. She was Lady Rowena, she was in love, with the deep peaceful passion of a noble soul. This spring morning, the loveliness...

Why then should money be blamed for all the dirt and crimes it causes? For is love less filthy – love which creates life?

The more grievous the sin, the greater the repentance, God was bidding His time.

Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco.

Evet! Bu utanç verici gösteriyi izliyoruz, borçlar ve suçlar altında ezilmiş kişiler suçsuz ilan ediliyor; buna karşılık onurun ta kendisi, yaşamı lekesiz bir adam cezalandırılıyor. Bir toplum bu noktaya geldiği zaman, artık çürümeye başlamış demektir.

The whole of Paris was lit up. The tiny dancing flames had bespangled the sea of darkness from end to end of the horizon, and now, like millions of stars, they burned with a steady...

All round there was a rising tide of beer, widow Désir’s barrels had all been broached, beer had rounded all paunches and was overflowing in all directions, from noses, eyes – and elsewhere. People were...

Art is a corner of creation seen through a temperament.

À cette heure, elle voulut le mal, le mal que personne ne commet, le mal qui allait emplir son existence vide et la mettre enfin dans cet enfer dont elle avait toujours peur.

Did not one spend the first half of one’s days in dreams of happiness and the second half in regrets and terrors?

Speculation, speculation!’ she [Caroline Hamelin] mechanically repeated, struggling with her doubts. ‘Ah! the idea of it fills my heart with disturbing anguish.

He [Muffat] experienced a sense of pleasure mingled with remorse, the sort of pleasure peculiar to those Catholics whom the fear of hell spurs on to commit sin.

Gerçek su yüzüne çıkıyor ve hiçbir şey onu durduramayacak. Olay ancak bugün başlıyor, çünkü konumlar ancak bugün açık olarak ortaya çıktı: bir yanda, ışığın parlamasını istemeyen suçlular; öbür yanda ışığın parlaması için canlarını verecek doğrucular....

Her son would be incomparably handsome, good and powerful. He would be the expected Messiah; it is fortunate for humanity that all mothers have this pathetic faith, without it mankind would not have the ever-renascent...