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Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo Quotes

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Famous Victor Hugo Quotes

“That figure stood for a long time wholly in the light; this arose from a certain legendary dimness evolved by the majority of heroes, and which always veils the truth for a longer or shorter time; but to-day history and daylight have arrived. That light called history is pitiless; it possesses this peculiar and divine quality, that, pure light as it is, and precisely because it is wholly light, it often casts a shadow in places where people had hitherto beheld rays; from the same man it constructs two different phantoms, and the one attacks the other and executes justice on it, and the shadows of the despot contend with the brilliancy of the leader. Hence arises a truer measure in the definitive judgments of nations. Babylon violated lessens Alexander, Rome enchained lessens Caesar, Jerusalem murdered lessens Titus, tyranny follows the tyrant. It is a misfortune for a man to leave behind him the night which bears his form.”

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Book:Les Misérables: Volume Two
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“Questa luce, cioè la storia, è spietata; essa ha questo di strano e di divino, e cioè che quantunque sia luce, e precisamente perché è luce, mette spesso dell'ombra là dove si vedono raggi; dello stesso uomo fa due fantasmi differenti, e l'uno attacca l'altro, e ne fa giustizia, e le tenebre del despota lottano con lo splendore del capitano. Da qui, una misura più vera nell'apprezzamento definitivo dei popoli. Babilonia violata diminuisce Alessandro; Roma incatenata diminuisce Cesare; Gerusalemme uccisa diminuisce Tito. La tirannia segue il tiranno. E' una sventura per un uomo lasciare dietro di sé dell'ombra che ha la forma sua.”

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Book:Les Misérables
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“The spirit of God, like the sun, always gives all its light at once. The spirit of man resembles the pale moon, which has its phases, its absences and its returns, its lucidity and its spots, its fullness and its disappearance, which borrows all its light from the rays of the sun, and which still dares to intercept them on occasion.”

MenGivingStillsGodLightSpiritSunHuman NaturePrideReturnMoonDareAbsenceSpotsOccasionsRaysPalePhasesFullnessSpirit Of GodDisappearanceLucidity
Author:Victor Hugo
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“Love would never be a promise of a rose garden unless it is showered with light of faith, water of sincerity and air of passion. Sometimes we make love with our eyes. Sometimes we make love with our hands. Sometimes we make love with our bodies. Always we make love with our hearts. If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile, the entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand. To love another person is to see the face of God.”

IfsHeartPersonsMadeSometimesBodyHandsLightWould BeEyeFacesPassionStarsWaterAirSkyPromiseGardenRoseEveningIf I CouldSincerityMaking LovePalmsRose GardenEvening Sky
Author:Victor Hugo
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“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”

BookLightReadingHealingFireReaderSparksReading BooksLiteracyBook ReadingGreat BookSpellingSyllablesBooks And ReadingLove Of ReadingLearning To ReadJoy Of ReadingReading And LiteracyBook ReadersBooks For KidsReading For KidsGreat ReadingChildren ReadingImportance Of ReadingLiteracy And ChildrenLiteracy For ChildrenChildren About ReadingBook LearningReading Books To ChildrenReading And Learning
Book:Les Misérables
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“He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her up, though tottering himself. He felt as if his head were filled with smoke; flashes of light slipped through his eyelids; his thoughts vanished; it seemed to him that he was performing a religious act, and that he was committing a profanation. Moreover, he did not feel one passionate desire for this ravishing woman, whose form he felt against his heart. He was lost in love.”

IfsFeelsHeartLightFormDesireLostFeltReligiousArmsFilledPassionateCaughtSmokePerformingUnconsciousLost LoveFlashEyelidsPassionate Desire
Author:Victor Hugo
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“Love has no middle term; either it destroys, or it saves. All human destiny is this dilemma. This dilemma, destruction or salvation, no fate proposes more inexorably than love. Love is life, if it is not death. Cradle; coffin, too. The same sentiment says yes and no in the human heart. Of all the things God has made, the human heart is the one that sheds most light, and alas! most night.”

IfsHumansHeartMadeLightNightTermLove IsDestinyFateMiddleDestructionSalvationSentimentsShedHuman HeartAlasProposeCradleDilemmaCoffinsLove Is LifeYes And No
Book:Les Misérables
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“You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do no bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.”

MenMindIdeasDoneStoriesLightEnemyClearFameShiningCloudsDeedsEvery ManBotherNew IdeasThunderSereneDisdainGnats
Book:Things Seen (Choses Vues)
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“Ecclesiastes names thee Almighty, the Maccabees name thee Creator, the Epistle to the Ephesians names thee Liberty, Baruch names thee Immensity, the Psalms name thee Wisdom and Truth, John names thee Light, the Book of Kings names thee Lord, Exodus names thee Providence, Leviticus Sanctity, Esdras Justice, creation names thee God, man names thee Father; but Solomon names thee Compassion, which is the most beautiful of all thy names.”

MenBookGodLightBeautifulFatherNamesJusticeCompassionLibertyLordCreationKingsCreatorTheeProvidenceAlmightySanctityPsalmsImmensitySolomonExodusEcclesiastesLeviticusEphesians
Book:Les Misérables
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“There is no supernatural, there is only nature. Nature alone exists and contains all. All is. There is the part of nature that we perceive, and the part of nature that we do not perceive. ... If you abandon these facts, beware; charlatans will light upon them, also the imbecile. There is no mean: science, or ignorance. If science does not want these facts, ignorance will take them up. You have refused to enlarge human intelligence, you augment human stupidity. When Laplace withdraws Cagliostro appears.”

IfsWantHumansMeanDoeFactsLightScienceNatureExistenceIgnoranceAccountsIntelligentStupidityPerceiveAbandonHuman IntelligenceCharlatansImbecilesHuman Stupidity
Author:Victor Hugo
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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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“We may remark in passing that to be blind and beloved may, in this world where nothing is perfect, be among the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness. The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself; and this assurance the blind man possesses. In his affliction, to be served is to be caressed. Does he lack anything? no. Possessing love he is not deprived of light. A love, moreover, that is wholly pure. There can be no blindness where there is this certainty.”

MenWorldLifeMayDoeLightFormLife IsPerfectThis WorldPureBlindOneselfSupremePassingPassingsCertaintyBelovedSpiteAfflictionBlindnessAssuranceDeprivedRemarksExquisitePossessingLife HappinessBeing LovedBlind ManNothing Is Perfect
Author:Victor Hugo
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“Separated lovers cheat absence by a thousand fancies which have their own reality. They are prevented from seeing one another and they cannot write; nevertheless they find countless mysterious ways of corresponding, by sending each other the song of birds, the scent of flowers, the laughter of children.”

WayLoveWritingChildrenRealityLightDesireSongStarsSunSeeingCreationWindFlowerLoversThousandLaughterBirdAbsenceMysteriousFancyNeverthelessCheatScentGleamCorrespondingMysterious Ways
Author:Victor Hugo
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“In this world, which is so plainly the antechamber of another, there are no happy men. The true division of humanity is between those who live in light and those who live in darkness. Our aim must be to diminish the number of the latter and increase the number of the former. That is why we demand education and knowledge.”

MenWorldLightHumanityNumbersDarknessThis WorldDemandIncreaseAimFormerLatterDivisionDiminishHappy ManEducation And Knowledge
Book:Les Misérables
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“Nothing can be more depressing than to expose, naked to the light of thought, the hideous growth of argot. Indeed it is like a sort of repellent animal intended to dwell in darkness which has been dragged out of its cloaca. One seems to see a horned and living creature viciously struggling to be restored to the place where it belongs. One word is like a claw, another like a sightless and bleeding eye; and there are phrases which clutch like the pincers of a crab. And all of it is alive with the hideous vitality of things that have organized themselves amid disorganization.”

Has BeensLightSeemsEyeGrowthAnimalDarknessStruggleAliveCreaturesNakedPhrasesOrganizedDepressingVitalityOne WordBleedingHideousClawsLiving CreaturesClutchCrabsDisorganization
Book:Les Misérables
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“Those who every morning plan the transactions of the day and follow out that plan carry a thread that will guide them through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of their time is like a ray of light which darts itself through all their occupations. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidents, chaos will soon reign.”

LightTodayChanceMorningPlansChaosBusyGuidesOccupationRaysThreadEvery MorningArrangementsReignIncidentsTransactionsOrderlyLabyrinthBusy LifeDartsRays Of Light
Author:Victor Hugo
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“All that was neither a city, nor a church, nor a river, nor color, nor light, nor shadow: it was reverie. For a long time, I remained motionless, letting myself be penetrated gently by this unspeakable ensemble, by the serenity of the sky and the melancholy of the moment. I do not know what was going on in my mind, and I could not express it; it was one of those ineffable moments when one feels something in himself which is going to sleep and something which is awakening.”

KnowsFeelsMindLongMomentsLightChurchSleepCitiesSkyColorLong TimeShadowRiversAwakeningMelancholySerenityGoing To SleepUnspeakableEnsembleIneffableReverie
Author:Victor Hugo
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“In winter there is no heat, no light, no noon, evening touches morning, there is fog, and mist, the window is frosted, and you cannot see clearly. The sky is but the mouth of a cave. The whole day is the cave.... Frightful season! Winter changes into stone the water of heaven and the heart of man.”

MenHeartWholeLightHeavenWaterMorningSkyMouthsStonesWindowSeasonsWinterEveningHeatFogCavesMistNoon
Book:Les Misérables: Fantine
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