Quotes from Victor Hugo

He understood how to say the grandest things in the most vulgar of idioms. As he spoke all tongues, he entered into all hearts.

evil condoned wears the mask of benevolence

He loved books; books are cold but safe friends. In

There comes a day when the young girl glances in this manner. Woe to him who chances to be there! That first gaze of a soul which does not, as yet, know itself, is like the dawn in the sky. It

At the period of his most abject misery, he had observed that young girls turned round when he passed by, and he fled or hid, with death in his soul. He thought that they were staring at him because of his old clothes, and that they were laughing at them; the fact is, that they stared at him because of his grace, and that they dreamed of him.

One can no more keep the mind from returning to an idea than the sea from returning to the shore.

Love one another dearly, always. Nothing else in the world really matters but that: to love one another.

Wine, for serious drunks, enjoys only a limited success. There is, concerning inebriation, black magic and white magic; wine is only white magic.

Tabahlah saat menghadapi penderitaan besar, Sabarlah saat menghadapi penderitaan kecil, Dan kalau anda sudah melaksanakan dengan giat tugas anda sehari-hari, Pergilah tidur dengan damai. Tuhan selalu berjaga.

This Boulatruelle was a man in bad odour with the people of the neighbourhood; he was too respectful, too humble, prompt to doff his cap to everybody; he always trembled and smiled in the presence of the gendarmes, was probably in secret connection with robber-bands, said the gossips, and suspected of lying in wait in the hedge corners at nightfall. He had nothing in his favour except that he was a drunkard.

He had no shelter, no bread, no fire, no love; but he was merry because he was free.

He was a friendly but sad figure. People said of him: 'A rich man who is not proud. A fortunate man who does not look happy.

He was one of those children most deserving of pity, among all, one of those who have father and mother, and who are orphans nevertheless.

A good mayor is a useful person. How can you hold back when you have the chance to do good?

Marius y Cosette no se hablaban, no se saludaban, no se conocían: se veían y, como los astros en el cielo que están separados por millones de leguas, vivían de mirarse.

This garden was no longer a garden, it was a colossal thicket, that is to say, something as impenetrable as a forest, as densely populated as a city, as tremulous as a nest, as tenebrous as a cathedral, as aromatic as a bouquet, as lonely as a tomb, as much a living thing as a crowd.

In the chaos of sentiments and passions which defend a barricade, there is something of everything; there is bravery, youth, honor, enthusiasm, the ideal, conviction, the eager fury of the gamester, and above all, intervals of hope.

Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, this fact is recognized,—that the human race has been treated harshly, but that it has progressed.

Lavorava per vivere; poi, sempre per vivere, poiché anche il cuore ha fame, amò.

Asociad estas dos ideas, París y la infancia, que contienen la una todo el fuego, la otra toda la aurora; haced que choquen estas dos chispas, y el resultado es un pequeño ser.

L'hydre-Univers tordant son corps écaillé d'astres.

A beautiful woman is a casus belli; a pretty woman is flagrant misdemeanour. All the invasions of history have been determined by petticoats.

No one is more avidly curious about other people's doings than those persons whom they do not concern.

Knowing that she was beautiful, she felt convinced, though in an indistinct way, that she had a weapon. Women play with their beauty as children do with their knives. They wound themselves with it.