Human Comedy, Volume 24

Author: Balzac (French)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-08-01
Features: Excerpt: The title "Toil of Life" lacks variation. With ten fingers, people work and give up their future prospects, turning it into a means. No matter how benevolent we are, only the results earn our praise. Everywhere, one can see people marveling in front of piles of stones, but even if they think of the stone stackers, it is at most a display of pity. If architects still hold some noble ideas in their eyes, their workers are merely like winches, indistinguishable from wheelbarrows, shovels, and pickaxes.