Talk:Émile Zola

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Could someone track down the "I don't see any wooden legs" quote, please? — Bobby D. Bryant 11:14, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I'm eager to know this too.

I've also heard it attributed to Anatole France and Sartre. Is it apocryphal?

"We are like books"

I have seen the quote "We are like books. Most people only see our cover, the minority read only the introduction, many people believe the critics. Few will know our content." attributed to Zola in many places, but I don't see anything close to an actual cited source anywhere. Can anyone validate or debunk this? Aliza250 (talk) 03:08, 2 August 2023 (UTC)

I was skeptical about the authenticity of this quote (like the majority of online quotes) so I tried finding information about it. None confirming the authenticity turned up, but consulting ChatGPT I have understood that the quote is fake or misattributed. I wish I could say more. PierreFranckx (talk) 07:21, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

It’s obviously not Zola. The only thing approaching a citation to be found is Google AI stating it comes from The Ladies’ Paradise - it doesn’t. I guess Google’s AI found some random page that threw a book title at the quote. 50.86.235.226 08:45, 19 October 2024 (UTC)