149 quotes
Death and the sowing of seeds: and the life of bread growing up out of the earth.
La Terre (1887)
This woman was as necessary to his life as eating and drinking.
Thérèse Raquin (1867)
When younger, he had been fun-loving to the point of tedium.
Pot-Bouille (1882)
As one must die, I would rather die of passion than boredom!
Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
Could he love this one, without killing her?
La Bête humaine (1890)
Oh, the fools, like a lot of good little schoolboys, scared to death of anything they’ve been taught is wrong!
L'Œuvre (1886)
If people can just love each other a little bit, they can be so happy.
Germinal (1885)
She wanted to live, and live fully, and to give life, she who loved life! What was the good of existing, if you couldn’t give yourself?
La joie de vivre (1883)
"Bread! is that enough, idiots!"
Germinal (1885)
The idea of death, blurted out in despair between a couple of kisses, returned implacable and keen.
Thérèse Raquin (1867)
The certainty of having her as his wife prevented him from feeling any desire for her.
Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
When there is no hope in the future, the present appears atrociously bitter.
Thérèse Raquin (1867)
Don't keep looking at me like that, you’ll wear your eyes out.
La Bête humaine (1890)
To be poor in Paris, is to be doubly poor.
La Curée (1872)
She offered herself to him with that quiet expression which is peculiar to a good-natured courtesan.
Nana (1880)
A ruined man fell from her hands like a ripe fruit, to rot on the ground by himself.
Nana (1880)
Those harlot eyes were never lowered; they courted pleasure, a pleasure without fatigue which one summons and receives.
La Curée (1872)
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
From the moment I start a new novel, life’s just one endless torture.
L'Œuvre (1886)
At every mouthful Nana swallowed an acre.
Nana (1880)