Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
172 quotes
"Because things are not agreeable," said Jean Valjean, "that is no reason for being unjust towards God."
"Marius and Cosette were in the dark in regard to each other. They did not speak, they did not bow, they were not acquainted; they saw each other; and, like the stars in the sky separated by millions of leagues, they lived by gazing upon each other."
"People who are overwhelmed with troubles never do look back.They know only too well that misfortune follows in their wake."
"The straight line, a respectable optical illusion which ruins many a man."
"Well, listen a moment, Monsieur Mayor; I have often been severe in my life towards others. It was just. I did right. Now if I were not severe towards myself, all I have justly done would become injustice. Should I spare myself more than others? No. What! if I should be prompt only to punish others and not myself, I should be a wretched indeed! - Javert to M. Madeleine"
"Do not forget, do not ever forget, that you have promised me to use the money to make yourself an honest man.'Valjean, who did not recall having made any promise, was silent. The bishop had spoken the words slowly and deliberately. He concluded with a solemn emphasis:Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good. I have bought your soul to save it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God."
"Curiosity is gluttony. To see is to devour."
"The terrible shock of his sentence had in some way broken that wall which separates us from the mystery of things beyond and which we call life."
"In moments like these, offering up his heart at the hour that night flowers offer up their perfume, lit up like a lamp in the middle of the starry night, full of ecstasy in the middle of the universal radiance of creation, he could not perhaps have said himself what was happening in his spirit; he felt something soar up out of him and something fly down into him. Mysterious exchanges between the bottomless well of the soul and the bottomless well of the universe!"
"She let her head fall back upon Marius' knees and her eyelids closed. He thought that poor soul had gone. Eponine lay motionless; but just when Marius supposed her for ever asleep, she slowly opened her eyes in which the gloomy deepness of death appeared, and said to him with an accent the sweetness on which already seemed to come from another world:"And then, do you know, Monsieur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you."She essayed to smile again and expired."
"The guillotine is the ultimate expression of Law, and its name is vengeance; it is not neutral, nor does it allow us to remain neutral."
"The soul of the just contemplates in sleep a mysterious heaven."
"Profound hearts, wise minds, take life as God makes it; it is a long trial, and unintelligible preparation for the unknown destiny."
"To love or have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further, There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life."
"The peculiarity of sunrise is to make us laugh at all our terrors of the night, and our laugh is always proportioned to the fear we have had."
"In love there are no friends everywhere where there is a pretty woman hostility is open."
"The life of the cenobite is a human problem. When we speak of convents, those seats of error but innocence, of mistaken views but good intentions, of ignorance but devotion, of torment but martyrdom, we must nearly always say yes or no...The monastery is a renunciation. Self-sacrifice, even when misdirected, is still self-sacrifice. To assume as duty a strict error has its peculiar grandeur."
"Release is not the same as liberation. You get out of jail, all right, but you never stop being condemned."
"To be a saint is to be an exception; to be a true man is the rule. Err, fail, sin if you must, but be upright. To sin as little as possible is the law for men; to sin not at all is a dream for angels. All earthly things are subject to sin; if is like the force of gravity."
"Let no one misunderstand our idea; we do not confound what are called 'political opinions' with that grand aspiration after progress with that sublime patriotic, democratic, and human faith, which, in our days, should be the very foundation of all generous intelligence."
"The senator...was a smart man who had made his way in life with a single-mindedness oblivious to any of those stumbling blocks known as conscience, sworn oaths, justice, duty..."
"To wipe out abuse is not enough; you have to change people's whole outlook. The mill is no longer standing, but the wind's still there, blowing away."
"The beautiful is as useful as the useful." He added after a moment’s silence, "Perhaps more so."
"Style is the shape the ideal takes, rhythm, its movement."
"Without seeking to comprehend the incomprehensible, he gazed upon it. He did not study God; he was dazzled by Him."