Book meme

A fun meme that I saw on Thothmuffin's blog. I'm in France at the moment, and so the only book I have on me happens to be in French. It's Le Père Goriot by Honoré de Balzac. I went ahead and added a rough translation in English as well.

Posts about France to come after I return to the land of normal keyboards, promis juré.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig around for that "cool" or "intellectual" book on your shelves. (I know you were thinking about it.) Just pick up whatever is closest.

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Combien serait puissants leurs voeux, combien pur serait l'élan de leurs âmes vers le ciel! Avec quel volupté ne se sacrifieraient-elles pas! De quelle douleur serait atteinte sa mère, si elle ne pouvait envoyer toute la somme! Ces beaux sentiments, ces affroyables sacrifices allaient lui servir d'échelon pour arriver à Delphine de Nucingen.

How powerful their wishes would be, how pure the elan of their souls would be towards heaven! With what voluptuousness they sacrifice themselves! What sadness would her mother recieve, if she couldn't send the entire sum! These nice sentiments, these terrifying sacrifices would serve to put her in the echelons of Delphine de Nucingen.

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