Les Rougon-Macquart A Companion

Quotes

Passages from across the twenty novels

All novels The Fortune of the Rougons The Kill The Belly of Paris The Conquest of Plassans Abbé Mouret's Sin His Excellency Eugène Rougon The Dram Shop A Love Episode Nana Pot Luck The Ladies' Delight The Bright Side of Life Germinal The Masterpiece The Earth The Dream The Beast Within Money The Debacle Doctor Pascal
"Men were pushing up, a black avenging army, germinating slowly in the furrows, growing towards the harvests of the next century, and their germination would crack the earth asunder."
Germinal

Final lines of Germinal — the narrator's voice, as Étienne walks away from the ruined Voreux

"We are too wretched — it has to end."
Étienne Lantier · Germinal

Étienne Lantier to the miners, before the strike vote

"We are the ones who made the wealth of the world, and we are the ones who starve for it."
Étienne Lantier · Germinal

Étienne Lantier, addressing the miners during the strike

"The mine devoured everything — men, families, hope."
Germinal

Narrator's voice, on the Voreux and what it takes from those who serve it