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Quotation from Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot) by Honoré de Balzac
“The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed.”
Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot), Vautrin's proposal, in the garden of the Maison Vauquer, trans. Ellen Marriage (1896)
The close of Vautrin's argument, after which Rastignac cries out that he will hear no more.
Citation: "The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed." — Honoré de Balzac, Father Goriot (Le Père Goriot), Vautrin's proposal, in the garden of the Maison Vauquer, trans. Ellen Marriage (1896). (id balzac-father-goriot-q4)
Portrait: Honoré de Balzac (1842) detail, Louis-Auguste Bisson, Public domain.
