Quotes from Victor Hugo

Il passaggio da bovaro a carmelitano non ha nulla di stridente: si passa dall'uno all'altro senza gran fatica. Il fondo comune d'ignoranza del villaggio e del convento è una base che mette il contadino allo stesso livello del frate; tenete un po' più grande il gabbano, ed avrete un saio.

No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.

What more do you need? A little garden to walk in, and immensity to reflect on. At his feet something to cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate on; a few flowers on earth and all the stars in heaven.

Ah, miten mielelläni hukuttautuisin, jollei vesi olisi niin kylmää!

It is particularly in the matter of distress and intelligence that it is dangerous to have extremes meet.

Come si chiamano i vostri due amici? – Pietro il Grassatore e Battista Gabbagonzi. – Uhm! - fe' l'arcidiacono; - son nomi che si addicono a un'opera buona come una bombarda ad un altar maggiore.

Avaj! Šta su sve te sudbine tako gurnute i izmešane? Kuda idu? Zašto su takve? Onaj koji to zna vidi sav mrak. On je jedan. Zove se bog.

Tudo o que tinha sido a sua vida desapareceu, incluindo o nome; deixou de ser Jean Valjean, para ser apenas o número 24601. O que aconteceu à sua irmã? O que aconteceu às sete crianças? Quem se preocupa com isso? O que é que acontece a um punhado de folhas de um arbusto esmagado pelos pés de quem passa?

The happiness of the evil-minded is black.

I perceived at the end of a certain time, that I lacked something in every direction; and seeing that I was good for nothing, of my own free will I became a poet and rhymester. That is a trade which one can always adopt when one is a vagabond, and it's better than stealing, as some young brigands of my acquaintance advised me to do.

And it is from his heart that he adheres to the wishes and the efforts of the generous men of every nation, who for several years have worked to overthrow the gallows, the only tree which is not uprooted by the Revolution.

In its printed form, thought is more imperishable than ever; it is volatile, irresistible, indestructible.

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved

We are equally far removed from the hosanna of Joseph de Maistre, who wound up by anointing the executioner, and from the sneer of Voltaire, who even goes so far as to ridicule the cross.

Quelle minute funèbre que celle où la société s'éloigne et consomme l'irréparable abandon d'un être pensant !

He caught glimpses of everything, but he saw nothing.

La primera igualdad es la equidad

Si vous voulez que je m'en aille, Pourquoi passez-vous par ici ? Lorsque je vous vois, je tressaille : C'est ma joie et c'est mon souci. Si vous voulez que je m'en aille, Pourquoi passez-vous par ici ?

It is the lineaments of the years which form the countenance of the century.

Nesre?a je za ?oveka što ostavlja iza sebe no? kojoj je on dao oblik.

Every profession has its aspirants who make up the cortège of those who are at the summit.

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.

The wise man does not grow old, but ripes.

She was a soul rather than a virgin. Her person seemed made of a shadow; there was hardly sufficient body to provide for sex;