"The critics greeted this book with a churlish and horrified outcry. Certain virtuous people, in newspapers no less virtuous, made a grimace of disgust as they picked it up with the tongs to throw it into the fire. Even the minor literary reviews, the ones that retail nightly the tittle-tattle from alcoves and private rooms, held their noses and talked of filth and stench. I am not complaining about this reception; on the contrary I am delighted to observe that my colleagues have such maidenly susceptibilities."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Preface to the 2nd ed., 1868 (tr. L. W. Tancock, 1962)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Émile Zola
208 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Émile Zola →
Related Quotes
"If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that t…"
"Dreyfus is innocent. I swear it! I stake my life on it — my honor! At this solemn moment, in the presence of this tri…"
"Au fond une pensée unique les rongeait: ils s’irritaient contre leur crime, ils se désespéraient d’avoir à jamais tro…"
"There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman."
"I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don't care for the great centuries. All I care about is life, stru…"
"One forges one's style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines."
"Everything is only a dream."
"Paris flared — Paris, which the divine sun had sown with light, and where in glory waved the great future harvest of …"
"She would have cursed the Almighty had she been able to shout out a blasphemy. Providence had deceived her for over s…"
"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you: I am here to live out loud!"