Quotes from Alain-René Lesage's books, and about them
David Copperfield on Gil Blas: “From that blessed little room, Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, the Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas, and Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, to keep me company.”
The House of the Seven Gables on Gil Blas: “A romance on the plan of Gil Blas, adapted to American society and manners, would cease to be a romance.”
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table on Gil Blas: “When you read the story of the Archbishop and Gil Blas, you may laugh, if you will, at the poor old man's delusion; but don't forget that the youth was the greater fool of the two, and that his master served such a booby rightly in turning him out of doors.”
White-Jacket on Gil Blas: “For this purpose, Peregrine Pickle is a good book; so is Gil Blas; so is Goldsmith.”
The Story of a Bad Boy on Gil Blas: “In a lidless trunk in the garret I subsequently unearthed another motley collection of novels and romances, embracing the adventures of Baron Trenck, Jack Sheppard, Don Quixote, Gil Blas, and Charlotte Temple--all of which I fed upon like a bookworm.”
The Baron in the Trees on Gil Blas: “there he was reading Lesage's Gil Blas, holding his book in one hand and his gun in the other.”
Italo Calvino on Gil Blas: “a vast range of allusions to contemporary texts from Lesage's picaresque novel Gil Blas to Richardson's Clarissa”
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle on Gil Blas: “…traps for diversion at his neighbour's expense, laid hold on the declaration; and, recollecting the story of Scipio and the muleteer in Gil Blas, resolved to perpetrate a joke upon the stomach of Pallet, which seemed well disposed to a hearty supper.”