Father Goriot

Les Illusions perdues sont une peinture des mœurs du temps, d’un réalisme et d’une ampleur tels que la littérature française n’en a pas encore connu, et accessoirement, mais dans les profondeurs, un examen de conscience décisif de Balzac. En deux personnages il expose ce que devient un écrivain — ou ce qu’il peut devenir — s’il reste sévèrement fid

"And, in the first place, was that silver ours?" Madame Magloire was speechless. Another silence ensued; then the Bishop went on:— "Madame Magloire, I have for a long time detained that silver wrongfully. It belonged to the poor. Who was that man? A poor man, evidently."

me: imagine that you yourself are building the edifice of human destiny with the object of making people happy in the finale, of giving them peace and rest at last, but for that you must inevitably and unavoidably torture just one tiny creature, that same child who was beating her chest with her little fist, and raise your edifice on the foundation