Quotes from Victor Hugo

And remember, the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to see the face of God.

It is not easy to keep silent when silence is a lie.

Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.

There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.

The soul helps the body, and at certain moments raises it. It is the only bird that sustains its cage.

If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring.

Not seeing people permits us to imagine them with every perfection.

I wanted to see you again, touch you, know who you were, see if I would find you identical with the ideal image of you which had remained with me and perhaps shatter my dream with the aid of reality. -Claude Frollo

If you wish to understand what Revolution is, call it Progress; and if you wish to understand what Progress is, call it Tomorrow.

Marius and Cosette were in the dark in regard to each other. They did not speak, they did not bow, they were not acquainted; they saw each other; and, like the stars in the sky separated by millions of leagues, they lived by gazing upon each other.

What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!

Let us sacrifice one day to gain perhaps a whole life.

If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness. (Monseigneur Bienvenu in _Les Miserables_)

There are no weeds, and no worthless men. There are only bad farmers.

Diamonds are found only in the dark bowels of the earth; truths are found only in the depths of thought. It seemed to him that after descending into those depths after long groping in the blackest of this darkness, he had at last found one of these diamonds, one of these truths, and that he held it in his hand; and it blinded him to look at it. (pg. 231)

When you get an idea into your head you find it in everything.

Nobody loves the light like the blind man.

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.

Diamonds are to be found only in the darkness of the earth, and truth in the darkness of the mind.

She let her head fall back upon Marius' knees and her eyelids closed. He thought that poor soul had gone. Eponine lay motionless; but just when Marius supposed her for ever asleep, she slowly opened her eyes in which the gloomy deepness of death appeared, and said to him with an accent the sweetness on which already seemed to come from another world: And then, do you know, Monsieur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you. She essayed to smile again and expired.

The first symptom of true love in a man is timidity, in a young woman, boldness. This is surprising, and yet nothing is more simple. It is the two sexes tending to approach each other and assuming each the other's qualities.

Spira, spera. (breathe, hope)

What is said about men often has as much influence upon their lives, and especially upon their destinies, as what they do.

We pray together, we are afraid together, and then we go to sleep. Even if Satan came into the house, no one would interfere. After all, what is there to fear in this house? There is always one with us who is the strongest. Satan may visit our house, but the good Lord lives here.