Home > Work > The Fortune of the Rougons
1 " 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
2 " 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. "
3 " Kings may usurp thrones, republics may be established, but the town scarcely stirs. Plassan sleeps while Paris fights. "
4 " 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 "
5 " When a peasant begins to feel the need for instruction, he usually becomes fiercely calculating. "
6 " 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. "
7 " 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. "
8 " 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. "
9 " II y avait en elle un manque d'équilibre entre le sang et lesnerfs, une sorte de détraquement du cerveau et du cœur, qui la faisait vivreen dehors de la vie ordinaire. "
10 " 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. "
11 " Prends garde, mon garçon, on en meurt. "
12 " 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. "