Quotes from Émile Zola

Was für Schurken, diese ehrbaren Leute!

Yo la quiero... Hace mucho que lo sabe. No juegue el juego cruel de fingir que no entiende... y no tema nada.

Per un istante, temendo di svenire a quell'odore di donna che ritrovava più caldo, moltiplicato, sotto il soffitto basso, si sedette sul bordo del divano imbottito, tra le due finestre. Ma si rialzò immediatamente, tornò accanto alla toeletta, senza guardare più niente, gli occhi vacui, ripensando a un mazzo di tuberose che una volta era appassito nella sua stanza e l'aveva fatto quasi morire. Le tuberose, quando si decompongono, hanno un odore umano.

His was the sceptical boredom of a whole generation, no longer the romantic ennui of a Werther or a Rene lamenting the passing of old beliefs, but the boredom of the new doubting heroes, the young chemists who angrily proclaim the world intolerable because they have not immediately found life at the bottom of their test tubes.

S'il en avait découvert le moyen, il aurait fait passer la rue au travers de sa maison.

Antagonism breeds extremism.

It was but an illusion, but that dear little face, still so soft and silent, told them so many things which none other would have heard!

The shelves had the melancholy emptiness and the false luxury of families where inferior meat is purchased, so as to be able to put flowers on the table.

Cómo hacerla callar? ¿Cómo decirle a Denise que la adoraba, que ahora sólo existía ella?, que le sacrificaba todos sus antiguos amoríos de un día?

Quand les amoureux s'embrassent sur les joues, c'est qu'ils tâtonnent et cherchent les lèvres.

Dios mío! ¡Si es que la quiero! ¡Es que la quiero! ¿Por qué se complace en martilizarme de este modo?

After the third course the entrees had made their appearance; they consisted of pullets a la marechale, fillets of sole with shallot sauce and escalopes of Strasbourg pate.

Y a sabe que soy todo suyo - susurró, a modo de conclusión-. Haga conmigo lo que quiera.

The Russians had a great taste for her, owing to her embonpoint.

Nana was smiling still, but her smile was now bitter, as of a devourer of men.

From then on, the pavement of Plassans burned his feet. He was seen prowling on the promenades like a soul in pain. Then he decided suddenly, he left for Paris.

Il partait, lorsque, une dernière fois, il promena ses regards des deux fosses, vierges d'herbe, aux labours sans fin de la Beauce, que les semeurs emplissaient de leur geste continu. Des morts, des semences, et le pain poussait de la terre.

You know, I'm disgusted when dirty little boys run after old women.

Mais dites-vous bien une chose: une femme vous roulera toujours quand elle voudra en prendre la peine.»

The courtesans, as Vandeuvres used to say, avenged public morality by emptying his moneybags.

He still loved her more each day, the way you love at twenty, quite unreasonably, as your capricious heart dictates, just for the joy and the pain of loving.

The curtain fell on an apotheosis, wherein the cuckolds' chorus knelt and sang a hymn of gratitude to Venus, who stood there with smiling lips, her stature enhanced by her sovereign nudity.

Mais, au fond, il n'y a d'abord que le commandant du Paty de Clam, qui les mène tous, qui les hypnotise, car il s'occupe aussi de spiritisme, d'occultisme, il converse avec les esprits.

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.