Quotes from Victor Hugo

There is neither a foreign war nor a civil war; there is only just and unjust war.

To lie a little is not possible: he who lies, lies the whole lie.

Are you afraid of the good you might do?

If you are stone, be magnetic; if a plant, be sensitive; but if you are human be love.

The saints were his friends, and blessed him; the monsters were his friends, and guarded him.

He left her. She was dissatisfied with him. He had preferred to incur her anger rather than cause her pain. He had kept all the pain for himself.

No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come

A cannonball travels only two thousand miles an hour; light travels two hundred thousand miles a second. Such is the superiority of Jesus Christ over Napoleon.

It is a terrible thing to be happy! How pleased we are with it! How all-sufficient we think it! How, being in possession of the false aim of life, happiness, we forget the true aim, duty!

To pay compliments to the one we love is the first method of caressing, a demi-audacity venturing. A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil.

Great griefs exhaust. They discourage us with life. The man into whom they enter feels something taken from him. In youth, their visit is sad; later on, it is ominous.

When a woman is talking to you, listen to what she says with her eyes

As for methods of prayer, all are good, as long as they are sincere.

To destroy abuses is not enough; Habits must also be changed. The windmill has gone, but the wind is still there. ~old man G--- to Monseigneur Bienvenu Myriel

God will bless you,' said he, 'you are an angel since you take care of the flowers.' 'No,' she replied. 'I am the devil, but that's all the same to me.

Loving is almost a substitute for thinking. Love is a burning forgetfulness of all other things. How shall we ask passion to be logical?

there is a point when the unfortunate and the infamous are associated and confused in a word, a mortal word, les miserables

We need those who pray constantly to compensate for those who do not pray at all.

I think, therefore I doubt.

The sadness which reigned everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness.

What a great thing, to be loved! What a greater thing still, to love! The heart becomes heroic though passion…if no one loved, the sun would go out.

Ce n'est rien de mourir, C'est affreux de ne pas vivre.

Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

To study in Paris is to be born in Paris!