Quotessence
Home / Books / Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Book by Victor Hugo · 23 quotes · Men, Les Misérables, Victor Hugo

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenLes MisérablesVictor HugoLos MiserablesSoulLoveHeartLightStarsWisdomGrantaireDarknessHumansMayRevolutionSufferingDeathEyeIfsNight

Les Misérables Quotes

“To write the poem of the human conscience, were it only of a single man, were it only of the most infamous of men, would be to swallow up all epics in a superior and final epic. The conscience is the chaos of chimeras, of lusts and of temptations, the furnace of dreams, the cave of the ideas which are our shame; it is the pandemonium of sophisms, the battlefield of the passions. At certain hours, penetrate within the livid face of a human being who reflects, and look at what lies behind; look into that soul, look into that obscurity. There, beneath the external silence, there are combats of giants as in Homer, mêlées of dragons and hydras, and clouds of phantoms as in Milton, ghostly labyrinths as in Dante. What a gloom enwraps that infinite which each man bears within himself, and by which he measures in despair the desires of his will, and the actions of his life!”

SoulDesireReflectionConscienceDepthComplexity
Book:Les Misérables
Create image

“The poor young man must work for his bread; he eats; when he has eaten, he has nothing left but reverie. He enters God's theater free; he sees the sky, space, the stars, the flowers, the children, the humanity in which he suffers, the creation in which he shines. He looks at humanity so much that he sees the soul, he looks at creation so much that he sees God. He dreams, he feels that he is great; he dreams some more, and he feels that he is tender. From the egotism of the suffering man, he passes to the compassion of the contemplating man. A wonderful feeling springs up within him, forgetfulness of self, and pity for all. In thinking of the countless enjoyments nature offers, gives, and gives lavishly to open souls and refuses to closed souls, he, a millionaire of intelligence, comes to grieve for the millionaires of money. All hatred leaves his heart as all light enters his mind. And is he unhappy? No. The poverty of a young man is never miserable.”

SoulGodSufferingHumanityNaturePoorCompassionPovertyCreationContemplationReverie
Book:Les Misérables
Create image

“Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.... Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!”

MenGivingSoulUseSpiritEvilDarkForgetHonestBrotherYour SoulMy BrotherBuyingSilverNever ForgetHonest ManPerditionDark ThoughtsJean Valjean
Book:Les Misérables
Create image

“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
Create image

“Such is the remorseless progression of human society, shedding lives and souls as it goes on its way. It is an ocean into which men sink who have been cast out by the law and consigned, with help most cruelly withheld, to moral death. The sea is the pitiless social darkness into which the penal system casts those it has condemned, an unfathomable waste of misery. The human soul, lost in those depths, may become a corpse. Who shall revive it?”

MenWayHumansMayHas BeensSoulHelpingLawLostSocialMoralDarknessSeaGoes OnWasteOceanPrisonMiseryDepthCastsJailCorpsesHuman SoulProgressionHuman SocietyReviveUnfathomableRemorselessPrison System
Book:Les Misérables
Create image