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Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo Quotes

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Famous Victor Hugo Quotes

“In the vast cosmical changes, the universal life comes and goes in unknown quantities, ... sowing an animalcule here, crumbling a star there, oscillating and ... entangling, from the highest to the lowest, all activities in the obscurity of a dizzying mechanism, hanging the flight of an insect upon the movement of the earth... Enormous gearing, whose first motor is the gnat, and whose last wheel is the zodiac.”

LifeFirstsEarthLastsScienceUniverseStarsMovementActivityHighestUniversalEnormousFlightWheelsMechanismQuantityLowestInsectsMotorComes And GoesObscuritySowingCrumblingZodiacGnatsUniversal Life
Author:Victor Hugo
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“From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time. Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls. God displays them to us to give us food for thought.”

MenGivingMadeSoulSometimesEyeFoundNatureAnimalVirtueReflectionCookingVicesVisiblePetManifestDisplayTigersEaglesOystersSwinePortrayal
Author:Victor Hugo
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“It is in the name of Moses that Bellarmin thunderstrikes Galileo; and this great vulgarizer of the great seeker Copernicus, Galileo, the old man of truth, the magian of the heavens, was reduced to repeating on his knees word for word after the inquisitor this formula of shame: "Corde sincera et fide non ficta abjuro maledico et detestor supradictos errores et hereses." Falsehood put an ass's hood on science.”

MenScienceNamesHeavenAccountsShameAssKneesOld ManFormulasFalsehoodSeekersMosesHoodCopernicus
Author:Victor Hugo
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“Let us have compassion for those under chastisement. Alas, who are we ourselves? Who am I and who are you? Whence do we come and is it quite certain that we did nothing before we were born? This earth is not without some resemblance to a gaol. Who knows but that man is a victim of divine justice? Look closely at life. It is so constituted that one senses punishment everywhere.”

KnowsMenLooksEarthCertainBornJusticeCompassionDivineVictimSensesPunishmentAlasResemblanceChastisementCrime And PunishmentDivine Justice
Author:Victor Hugo
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“It seemed to be a necessary ritual that he should prepare himself for sleep by meditating under the solemnity of the night sky... a mysterious transaction between the infinity of the soul and the infinity of the universe.”

ShouldSoulNightUniverseSleepSpaceSkySolitudeMysteriousRitualInfinityMeditatingNight SkyTransactionsStar GazingSolemnitySun And StarsSky And CloudsSun Moon And StarsClouds And StarsStars In The Night Sky
Book:Les Misérables
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“I believe that pity is a law like justice, and that kindness is a duty like uprightness. That which is weak has a right to the kindness and pity of that which is strong. In the relations of man with the animals...there is a great ethic, scarcely perceived as yet, which will at length break through into the light, and which will be the corollary and the complement to humans ethics. Are there not here unsounded depths for the thinker? Is one to think oneself mad because one has the sentiment of universal pity in one's heart?”

ThinkingMenBelieveHumansHeartLightLawStrongI BelieveJusticeAnimalBreakKindnessDutyEthicsWeakUniversalRelationMadDepthOneselfPityLengthSentimentsThinkerBreak ThroughComplementAnimal EthicsUprightness
Author:Victor Hugo
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“Upon the first goblet he read this inscription, monkey wine; upon the second, lion wine; upon the third, sheep wine; upon the fourth, swine wine. These four inscriptions expressed the four descending degrees of drunkenness: the first, that which enlivens; the second, that which irritates; the third, that which stupefies; finally the last, that which brutalizes.”

FirstsLastsFourDegreesThirdsWineLionsSheepFourthMonkeysDrunkennessDescendingSwineInscriptions
Book:Les Mis??rables
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“I have examined the death penalty under each of its two aspects: as a direct action, and as an indirect one. What does it come down to? Nothing but something horrible and useless, nothing but a way of shedding blood that is called a crime when an individual commits it, but is sadly called "justice" when society brings it about. Make no mistake, you lawmakers and judges, in the eyes of God as in those of conscience, what is a crime when individuals do it is no less an offense when society commits the deed.”

WayDoeTwoEyeActionIndividualJusticeMistakeBloodCrimeJudgingConscienceAspectDirectDeedsHorribleCommitUselessPenaltiesOffenseDeath PenaltyIndirectLawmakersDirect ActionShedding Blood
Author:Victor Hugo
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