There is a spectacle more grand than the sea; it is heaven; there is a spectacle more grand than heaven; it is the conscience. Victor Hugo More Quotes by Victor Hugo More Quotes From Victor Hugo Let the one fight for his flag, and the other for his ideal, and let them both imagine that they are fighting for the country; the strife will be colossal. Victor Hugo flagsfightingcountry In Shakespeare the birds sing, the bushes are clothed with green, hearts love, souls suffer, the cloud wanders, it is hot, it is cold, night falls, time passes, forests and multitudes speak, the vast eternal dream hovers over all. Sap and blood, all forms of the multiple reality, actions and ideas, man and humanity, the living and the life, solitudes, cities, religions, diamonds and pearls, dung-hills and charnelhouses, the ebb and flow of beings, the steps of comers and goers, all, all are on Shakespeare and in Shakespeare. Victor Hugo dreamheartfall Death belongs to God alone; by what right do men touch that unknown thing? Victor Hugo unknown-thingsmendeath ...But listen, there will be more joy in heaven over the tears of a repentant sinner than over the white robes of a hundred just men. Victor Hugo whitejoymen Kings are for nations in their swaddling-clothes: France has attained her majority. Victor Hugo majorityclotheskings To know how to distinguish the agitation arising from covetousness, from the agitation arising from principles, to fight the one and aid the other, in this lies the genius and the power of great revolutionary leaders. Victor Hugo revolutionary-leadersfightinglying What was more needed by this old man who divided the leisure hours of his life, where he had so little leisure, between gardening in the daytime, and contemplation at night? Was not this narrow enclosure, with the sky for a background, enough to enable him to adore God in his most beautiful as well as in his most sublime works? Indeed, is not that all, and what more can be desired? A little garden to walk, and immensity to reflect upon. At his feet something to cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate upon: a few flowers on the earth, and all the stars in the sky. Victor Hugo starsflowerbeautiful Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions Victor Hugo progressrevolutionbrutality The rich's paradise was created by the poor's hell. Victor Hugo paradiserichhell Equality does not mean that all plants must grow to the same height - a society of tall grass and dwarf trees, a jostle of conflicting jealousies. It means, in civic terms, an equal outlet for all talents; in political terms, that all votes will carry the same weight; and in religious terms that all beliefs will enjoy equal rights. Victor Hugo dwarvesreligiousmean The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human race has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced. Victor Hugo progressbrutalityrace A bird sings, a child prattles, but it is the same hymn; hymn indistinct, inarticulate, but full of profound meaning. Victor Hugo hymnsprofoundchildren Strong and rare natures are thus created; misery, almost always a stepmother, is sometimes a mother; privation gives birth to power of soul and mind; distress is the nurse of self-respect; misfortune is a good breast for great souls. Victor Hugo strongselfmother The need of the immaterial is the most deeply rooted of all needs. One must have bread; but before bread, one must have the ideal. Victor Hugo idealsbreadneeds The reduction of the universe to the compass of a single being, and the extension of a single being until it reaches God - that is love. Love is the salute of the angels to the stars. How sad is the heart when rendered sad by love! How great is the void created by the absence of the being who alone fills the world. Victor Hugo angelstarsheart It is sad to tell, but after having tried society, which had caused his misfortune, he tried Providence which created society, and condemned it also. Victor Hugo misfortunesprovidence ...The girls chirped and chatted like uncaged warblers. They were delirious with joy... Intoxications of life’s morning! Enchanted years! The wing of a dragonfly trembles! Oh, reader, whoever you may be, do you have such memories? Have you walked in the underbrush, pushing aside branches for the charming head behind you? Have you slid laughing, down some slope wet with rain, with the woman you loved? Victor Hugo girlmorningmemories The paradise of the rich is made out of the hell of the poor. Victor Hugo paradisehellwisdom 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. Victor Hugo degreeswinesheep Who can be sure that Jean Valjean had not been on the verge of losing heart and giving up the struggle? In loving he recovered his strength. But the truth is that he was no less vulnerable than Cosette. He protected her and she sustained him. Thanks to him she could go forward into life, and thanks to her he could continue virtous. He was the child's support and she his mainstay. Sublime, unfathomable marvel of the balance of destiny! Victor Hugo giving-upstrugglechildren
