“To be always thirsting, and never to drink”

“To be always thirsting, and never to drink” is Jean-Joachim Goriot’s metaphor for the unfulfilled longing that, he says, has defined the last ten years of his life. Spoken while he is dying and believes he will not see his daughters again, the phrase makes his grief at their absence sound like a need that has persisted without relief.

The Phrase in Context

As Jean-Joachim Goriot lies dying, Eugène de Rastignac supports him and offers him a cup of tisane. Goriot takes Eugène’s hand and reflects on how deeply a person must love a father and mother. He then names his own long distress: he is going to die without seeing his daughters, and the thirsting image gives that absence its most concentrated expression.

Meaning and Development

The metaphor presents paternal longing as an ongoing deprivation rather than a single moment of disappointment. Goriot says this has been his life for ten years, linking the phrase to a sustained period of separation. Its two halves sharpen the contrast: desire continues, but fulfillment never arrives.

Goriot immediately explains the image through his sense of loss. He says he has no daughters because, since their marriages, they have been dead to him; he blames their husbands for keeping them away. His speech moves from private grief to an angry denunciation of marriage and a demand that dying fathers be protected by law. The metaphor therefore introduces a wider accusation: in his view, the family bonds he cherished have been broken, leaving him alone at the end of life.

Narrative Significance

The phrase gathers the scene’s central contradiction into a memorable figure: Goriot’s love remains intense, but the daughters he longs for are absent. Eugène is present, supporting him and trying to calm him, while Goriot calls out for his daughters and insists that they cannot come. The contrast makes the metaphor more than a description of yearning; it expresses the painful distance between the care Goriot gives and the care he hopes to receive in return.