M. Zola is determined to show that, if he has not got genius, he can at least be dull.

Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.

If you are not long, I will wait for you all my life.

To toil for a hard master is bitter, but to have no master to toil for is more bitter still.

In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.

Every thing to be true must become a religion.

When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.