Émile Zola

"He knew that, from now on, every day would be alike, that they would all bring the same sufferings. And he saw the weeks, the months, the years that awaited him, gloomy and implacable, coming one after the other, falling on him and suffocating him bit by bit. When the future is without hope, the present takes on a vile, bitter taste."

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

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud."

"There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman."

"I am an artist... I am here to live out loud."

"Keep well that is the half of wisdom and of happiness."

"If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud."

"I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don't care for the great centuries. All I care about is life, struggle, intensity."

"If you shut up truth, and bury it underground, it will but grow."

"Up to this day, there has been no proof of the existence of any intelligence other than the human."

"Keep well that is the half of wisdom and of happiness."

"I believe that all is illusion and vanity outside the treasure of truths slowly accumulated, and which will never again be lost. I believe that the sum of these truths, always increasing, will at last confer on man incalculable power and peace, if not happiness. Yes, I believe in the final triumph of life."

"I believe that the future of humanity is in the progress of reason through science. I believe that the pursuit of truth, through science, is the divine ideal which man should propose to himself."

"The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it."

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world I an artist I will answer you: T am here to live out loud."

"And then there are always clever people about to promise you that everything will be all right if only you put yourself out a bit... And you get carried away, you suffer so much from the things that exist that you ask for what can't ever exist. Now look at me, I was well away dreaming like a fool and seeing visions of a nice friendly life on good terms with everybody, and off I went, up into the clouds. And when you fall back into the mud it hurts a lot. No! None of it was true, none of those things we thought we could see existed at all. All that was really there was still more misery-- oh yes! as much of that as you like-- and bullets into the bargain!"

"In my view you cannot claim to have seen something until you have photographed it."

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

"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."

"The fate of animals is of far greater importance to me than the fear of appearing ridiculous."