Quotes About Humanity

No man was created good by God, nor can be made entirely bad by man.

Des marchands de sang humain criaient a tue-tête : Qui veut des places ?. Une rage m'a pris contre ce peuple. J'ai eu envie de leur crier : Qui veut la mienne ?

Le livre, comme livre, appartient à l'auteur, mais comme pensée, il appartient -le mot n'est pas trop vaste- au genre humain. Toutes les intelligences y ont droit. Si l'un des deux droits, le droit de l'écrivain et le droit de l'esprit humain, devait être sacrifié, ce serait, certes, le droit de l'écrivain, car l'intérêt public est notre préoccupation unique, et tous, je le déclare, doivent passer avant nous.

Nous ne sommes pas de ceux qui flattent la guerre; quand l'occasion s'en présente, nous lui disons ses vérités. La guerre a d'affreuses beautés que nous n'avons point cachées; elle a aussi, convenons-en, quelques laideurs. Une des plus surprenantes, c'est le prompt dépouillement des morts après la victoire. L'aube qui suit une bataille se lève toujours sur des cadavres nus.

three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved;

Superstitions, bigotries, affected devotion, prejudices, those forms all forms as they are, are tenacious of life; they have teeth and nails in their smoke, and they must be clasped close, body to body, and war must be made on them, and that without truce; for it is one of the fatalities of humanity to be condemned to eternal combat with phantoms. It is difficult to seize darkness by the throat, and to hurl it to the earth.

He asked himself whether human society could have the right also to subject its members,on the one hand,to its crazy lack of foresight and,on the other,to its pitiless foresight,and to hold a poor man forever between a lack and an excess-lack of work and excess of punishment

in circulation

Shall we weep for all the innocent, all martyrs, all children, the lowly as well as the exalted? I agree to that. But in that case, as I have told you, we must go back further than '93, and our tears must begin before Louis XVII. I will weep with you over the children of kings, provided that you will weep with me over the children of the people.

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when I see humanity ripped apart and events patched up, and so many spots on the sun and so many holes in the moon, when I see so much misery everywhere, I suspect that God is not rich. The appearance exists, it is true, but I feel that he is hard up.

Each time he uttered the word 'Monsieur' in his mild, compassionable voice, the man's face lighted up. The courtesy, to the ex-convict, was like fresh water to a shipwrecked man. Ignominy thirsts for respect.

I do not know whether it will be read by all, but I wrote it for all.

long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved;

destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862.

weep for them all," the bishop said. "Equally," G——— exclaimed, "and if the balance tips, let it be on the side of the people: They have suffered longer.

The sores of the human race, those great sores which cover the globe, do not halt at the red or blue lines traced upon the map.

trivial,—there are no trivial facts in humanity, nor little leaves in vegetation,—are useful.

His only theatre is the free show that god provides, the sky and the stars, flowers and children, mankind who's sufferings he shares and the created world in which he is trying his wings

Properly speaking, he no longer held opinions; he had sympathies. To which party did he belong? To the party of humanity.

Do not ask the name of the person who asks you for a bed for the night. He whose name is a burden to him needs shelter more than anyone.

Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any war that is not fought between men, between brothers?

The nourishment of the people is a good object; to massacre them is a bad means.

Monsieur to a convict is a glass of water to a man dying of thirst at sea. Ignominy thirsts for respect.