Oh, the fools, like a lot of good little schoolboys, scared to death of anything they've been taught is wrong!

— Émile Zola

Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco.

— Émile Zola

She might have liked to try to strangle him with those slender fingers of hers, but she wanted to make a job of it and this great patience with which she waited for her claws to grow was in itself a form of enjoyment.

— Émile Zola

She [Nana] listened to his [Steiner's] propositions, turning them down every time with a shake of the head and that provocative laughter which is peculiar to full-bodied blondes.

— Émile Zola

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?

— Émile Zola

She was cold by nature, self-love predominating over passion; rather than being virtuous, she preferred to have her pleasures all to herself.

— Émile Zola

Shortens and Berth nodded, as though profoundly impressed by the wisdom of their mother's pronouncements. She had long since convinced them of the absolute inferiority of men, whose sole function was to marry and to pay.

— Émile Zola

Sin became a luxury, a flower set in her hair, a diamond fastened on her brow.

— Émile Zola

Since the same human mire remains beneath, does not all civilization reduce itself to the superiority of smelling nice and living well?

— Émile Zola

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.

— Émile Zola