The Fortune of the Rougons Quotes

“When lovers kiss on the cheeks, it is because they are searching, feeling for one another's lips. Lovers are made by a kiss.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“When a peasant begins to feel the need for instruction, he usually becomes fiercely calculating.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“For a moment he [Doctor Pascal] thought he could see, in a flash, the future of the Rougon-Macquart family, a pack of wild, satiated appetites in the midst of a blaze of gold and blood.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“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”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“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 couple who reeked with crime beneath their very sheets, and dreamt they could see a rain of blood falling in big drops, which turned into golden coins as they plashed upon the floor.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“Kings may usurp thrones, republics may be established, but the town scarcely stirs. Plassan sleeps while Paris fights.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“The Revolution of 1848 found all the Rougons on the lookout, frustrated by their bad luck, and ready to use any means necessary to advance their cause. They were a family of bandits lying in wait, ready to plunder and steal.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“II y avait en elle un manque d'équilibre entre le sang et les
nerfs, une sorte de détraquement du cerveau et du cœur, qui la faisait vivre
en dehors de la vie ordinaire.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“Ce fut un naïf, un naïf sublime, resté sur le seuil du temple, à genoux devant des cierges qu’il prenait de loin pour des étoiles.”
― Émile Zola, La Fortune des Rougon

“Prends garde, mon garçon, on en meurt.”
― Émile Zola, The Fortune of the Rougons

“Puis le moment de la séparation sonnait, Miette remontait sur son mur. Elle lui envoyait des baisers. Et il ne la voyait plus. Une émotion terrible le prit à la gorge : il ne la verrait plus jamais, jamais.”
― Émile Zola, La fortune des Rougon

“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.”
― Émile Zola, La Fortune des Rougon