Victor Hugo
A thousand men enslaved fear one beast free.Collection: Fear
There is one spectacle grander than the sea, That is the sky.Collection: Nature
Desiring always to be in mourning, he clothed himself with night.Collection: Night
As for the bishop, the sight of the guillotine was a great shock to him, from which he recovered only slowly.Collection: Sight
The word Gothic, in the sense in which it is generally employed, is wholly unsuitable, but wholly consecrated. Hence we accept it and we adopt it, like all the rest of the world, to characterize the architecture of the second half of the Middle Ages, where the ogive is the principle which succeeds the architecture of the first period, of which the semi-circle is the father.Collection: Father
When two mouths, made sacred by love, draw near to each other to create, it is impossible, that above that ineffable kiss there should not be a thrill in the immense mystery of the stars.Collection: Stars
The supreme ordeal, let us say rather, the only ordeal, is the loss of the beloved being.Collection: Loss
The onward march of the human race requires that the heights around it constantly blaze with noble lessons of courage. Deeds of daring dazzle history and form one of man's guiding lights.Collection: Courage
If he had had all Peru in his pocket, he would certainly have given it to this dancer; but Gringoire had not Peru in his pocket; and besides, America was not yet discovered. (p. 66)Collection: America
These Greek capitals, black with age, and quite deeply graven in the stone, with I know not what signs peculiar to Gothic calligraphy imprinted upon their forms and upon their attitudes, as though with the purpose of revealing that it had been a hand of the Middle Ages which had inscribed them there, and especially the fatal and melancholy meaning contained in them, struck the author deeply.Collection: Attitude
When people look back at their childhood or youth, their wistfulness comes from the memory, not of what their lives had been in those years, but of what life had then promised to be. The expectation of some indefinable splendor, of the unusual, the exciting, the great is an attribute of youth and the process of aging is the process of that expectations' gradual extinction. One does not have to let it happen. But that fire dies for lack of fuel, under the gray weight of disappointments.Collection: Memories
Without at all invalidating what we have just said, we believe that a perpetual remembrance of the tomb is proper for the living. On this point, the priest and the philosopher agree: We must die.Collection: Believe
The soul in the darkness sins, but the real sinner is he who caused the darkness.Collection: Real
It is only barbarous nations who have a sudden growth after a victoryCollection: Growth
A breath of Paris preserves the soul.Collection: Paris
Is there not in every human soul a primitive spark, a divine element, incorruptible in this world and immortal in the next, which can be developed by goodness, kindled, lit up, and made to radiate, and which evil can never entirely extinguish.Collection: Evil
If you are leaving that sorrowful place with hate and anger against men, you are worthy of compassion; if you leave it with good will, gentleness and peace, you are better than any of us.Collection: Hate
In love, such a word, whispered, is a mysterious kiss of the soul to the soul.Collection: Kissing
"Animals are happy," said the queen. "They run no risk of going to hell." "They are there already," replied Josiana.Collection: Running
He does not weep who does not see.Collection: Doe
What is fright by night is curiosity by day.Collection: Night
The wind of revolutions is not tractable.Collection: Wisdom
To see so much misery everywhere, I suspect that God is not rich. He keeps up appearances, it is true, but I feel the pinch. He gives a revolution as a merchant, whose credit is low, gives a ball.Collection: God
where would the shout of love begin, if not from the summit of sacrifice?Collection: Sacrifice
To love is the half of to believe.Collection: Believe
She loved with so much passion as she loved with ignorance. She did not know whether it were good or evil, beneficent or dangerous, necessary or accidental, eternal or transitory, permitted or prohibited: she loved.Collection: Passion
Idleness is a mother. She has a son, robbery, and a daughter, hunger.Collection: Daughter
A day will come when there will be no battlefields, but markets opening to commerce and minds opening to ideas.Collection: Wisdom
Was it possible that Napoleon should win the battle of Waterloo? We answer, No! Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blucher? No! Because of God! For Bonaparte to conquer at Waterloo was not the law of the nineteenth century. It was time that this vast man should fall. He had been impeached before the Infinite! He had vexed God! Waterloo was not a battle. It was the change of front of the Universe!Collection: God
When two souls have finally found each other, there is established between them a union which begins on earth and continues forever in heaven.Collection: Two
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.Collection: Sleep
It is not so easy to keep silent when the silence is a lie.Collection: Honesty
There are many tongues to talk, and but few heads to think.Collection: Wisdom
It is not enough to be happy, one must be content.Collection: Contentment
He who is not master of his own thoughts is not accountable for his own deeds.Collection: Wisdom
Go to sleep in peace. God is awake.Collection: Sleep
As with stomachs, we should pity minds that do not eat.Collection: Mind
If you look in the eyes of the young, you see flame. If you look in the eyes of the old, you see light.Collection: Children
God is behind everything, but everything hides God.Collection: Behinds
Nihilism has no substance. There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist. Everything is something. Nothing is nothing.Collection: Zero
Reason is intelligence taking exercise. Imagination is intelligence with an erection.Collection: Inspirational
The rich's paradise was created by the poor's hell.Collection: Paradise
Dying is nothing. What's terrible is not to live.Collection: Dying
Diamonds are found only in the dark places of the earth, truths are found only in the depths of thought.Collection: Dark
Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being.Collection: Love
Those who always pray are necessary to those who never pray.Collection: Prayer
Love is the foolishness of men, and the wisdom of God.Collection: Love Is
It is often our best friends who throw us down.Collection: Fall
The merciful precepts of Christ will at last suffuse the Code and it will glow with their radiance. Crime will be considered an illness with its own doctors to replace your judges and its hospitals to replace your prisons. Liberty shall be equated with health. Ointments and oil shall be applied to limbs that were once shackled and branded. Infirmities that once were scourged with anger shall now be bathed with love. The cross in place of the gallows: sublime and yet so simple.Collection: Simple