The internet research hub for Victor Hugo enthusiasts
|
|
|
|
The internet research hub for Victor Hugo enthusiasts |
|
| Quotes From | |||
| Les Miserables | Notre Dame de Paris | '93 | Other |
An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.
- History of a Crime - 1852
Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From that divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization.
- May 30, 1878, on the 100th anniversary of Voltaire's death
A language does not become fixed. The human intellect is always on the march, or, if you prefer, in movement, and languages with it.
- Preface to Cromwell (1827)
The earlier works of a man of genius are always preferred to the newer ones, in order to prove that he is going down instead of up.
- Preface to Cromwell (1827)
When liberty returns, I will return.
- August 18, 1859 (On when he planned to end his exile from France.)
Popularity? It's glory's small change.
- Ruy Blas, act 3, sc. 5 (1838).
A war between Europeans is a civil war.
-- Written during the Siege of Paris by the Prussians, 1870
How wise is Providence! She gives to each one his plaything. The doll to the child, the child to the man, the man to the woman, and the woman to the devil.
- Mary Tudor, Act 1, Scene 2
Reason is intelligence exercising itself;
Imagination is intelligence with an erection.
-- Océan
I refuse the oration of all churches. I ask a prayer of all souls. I believe in God.
- from Hugo's will, written August 2, 1883, when Hugo thought he was near death. (He died in 1885).
[The below are attributed to Hugo, but I do not know the source]
He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign.
I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses.
If a writer wrote merely for his time, I would have to break my pen and throw it away.
What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!
Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.
Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.
An intelligent hell would be better than a stupid paradise.