"People come not cheap to become a great man," Daniel said in his soft voice. "The genius pours his work with his tears. The talent is in the spiritual realm a creature who, like all living creatures, has a childhood that is not spared of disease. The Society raises the imperfect Talents back, like nature, the weak or deformed creatures destroyed. Who will rise above the people must prepare themselves for a battle, may shy away from any difficulty. A great writer is a martyr to die can not. [...]
If you are not in the breast have the will, if you do not have the heavenly patience, if you are not in the moment when you throw the whims of fate far from the goal, because if you do not like the turtles that, where they may be, take the path to her beloved sea, undaunted again seek your infinite, then enter the fight on the same day. "
" Do Thus prepared for suffering? "asked Lucien.
" On tests of all kinds, to slander, betrayal, injustice of my rivals, the impertinence, the tricks, the greed of merchants [...]"
(Balzac , Lost Illusions, Island, p. 251f)
