Mathilde Loisel Quotes

“She danced madly, ecstatically, drunk with pleasure, with no thought for anything, in the triumph of her beauty, in the pride of her success, in a cloud of happiness made up of this universal homage and admiration, of the desires she had aroused, of the completeness of a victory so dear to her feminine heart.”

“What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels? Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!”

“She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that.”

“She dressed simply, being unable to afford anything better, but she was every whit as unhappy as any daughter of a grand family who has come down in the world.”

“She would have given anything to be popular, envied, attractive, and in demand.”

“Instead of being delighted as her husband had hoped, she tossed the invitation peevishly onto the table and muttered: ‘What earthly use is that to me?‘”

“No; there’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich.”

“Yes, I’ve been through some hard times since I saw you, very hard times. And it was all on your account.”