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Forty Is The Old Age Of Youth; Fifty The Youth Of Old Age.
-Victor Hugo
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Forty Is The Old

Victor Hugo
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Forty Is The Old Age Of Youth; Fifty The Youth Of Old Age.

Understanding the Quote: "forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old..."

This quote by Victor Hugo reflects deeply on the theme of birthday. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Birthday, Health, Medicine, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Victor Hugo interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo is celebrated for insightful thoughts on birthday and health. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Birthday
Health
Medicine
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The Poor Man Shuddered, Overflowed With An Angelic Joy; He Declared In His Transport That This Would Last Through Life; He Said To Himself That He Really Had Not Suffered Enough To Deserve Such Radiant Happiness, And He Thanked God, In The Depths Of His Soul, For Having Permitted That He, A Miserable Man, Should Be So Loved By This Innocent Being.
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Sides
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Architecture Has Recorded The Great Ideas Of The Human Race. Not Only Every Religious Symbol, But Every Human Thought Has Its Page In That Vast Book.
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Book
Race
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Born
Freedom Begins Where It Ends Ignorance.
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I'm Not In The World To Guard My Own Life, But To Guard Souls
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World
My Own
Slaves Would Be Tyrants Were The Chance Theirs.
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Tyrants
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Most Commonly Revolt Is Born Of Material Circumstances; But Insurrection Is Always A Moral Phenomenon. Revolt Is Masaniello, Who Led The Neapolitan Insurgents In 1647; But Insurrection Is Spartacus. Insurrection Is A Thing Of The Spirit, Revolt Is A Thing Of The Stomach.
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Moral
Rebellion
These Are True Felicities. No Joy Beyond These Joys. Love Is The Only Ecstasy, Everything Else Weeps
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Joy
Felicity
Friend Is Sometimes A Word Devoid Of Meaning; Enemy, Never.
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Sometimes
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Popularity
The Women Laughed And Wept; The Crowd Stamped Their Feet Enthusiastically, For At That Moment Quasimodo Was Really Beautiful. He Was Handsome — This Orphan, This Foundling, This Outcast.
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Men
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Everything Bows To Success, Even Grammar.
Fortune Cookie
Bows
Grammar
But Secondly You Say 'society Must Exact Vengeance, And Society Must Punish'. Wrong On Both Counts. Vengeance Comes From The Individual And Punishment From God.
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Vengeance
Individual
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Melancholy
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Passion
Night
Do You Hear The People Sing? Singing A Song Of Angry Men
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Men
Angry Man
Gavroche Had Fallen Only To Rise Again; He Sat Up, A Long Stream Of Blood Rolled Down His Face, He Raised Both Arms In Air, Looked In The Direction Whence The Shot Came, And Began To Sing.
Air
Blood
Long
There Is No Supernatural, There Is Only Nature. Nature Alone Exists And Contains All. All Is. There Is The Part Of Nature That We Perceive, And The Part Of Nature That We Do Not Perceive. ... If You Abandon These Facts, Beware; Charlatans Will Light Upon Them, Also The Imbecile. There Is No Mean: Science, Or Ignorance. If Science Does Not Want These Facts, Ignorance Will Take Them Up. You Have Refused To Enlarge Human Intelligence, You Augment Human Stupidity. When Laplace Withdraws Cagliostro Appears.
Nature
Ignorance
Mean
He Who Contemplates The Depths Of Paris Is Seized With Vertigo. Nothing Is More Fantastic. Nothing Is More Tragic. Nothing Is More Sublime.
Paris
Sublime
Depth
A Republic May Be Called The Climate Of Civilization.
Military
Civilization
Climate
In My Old Age There Is A Coming Into Flower. My Body Wanes; My Mind Waxes.
Flower
Mind
Age
Knowledge Is A Weight Added To Conscience.
Wisdom
Weight
Conscience
One Can No More Keep The Mind From Returning To An Idea Than The Sea From Returning To A Shore. For A Sailor, This Is Called The Tide; In The Case Of The Guilty It Is Called Remorse. God Stirs Up The Soul As Well As The Ocean.
Wisdom
Ocean
Sea
Is It Not A Thing Divine To Have A Smile Which, None Know How, Has The Power To Lighten The Weight Of That Enormous Chain Which All The Living In Common Drag Behind Them?
Weight
Common
Divine
A Wretched Woman Is More Unfortunate Than A Wretched Man.
Women
Men
Unfortunate
...though We Chisel Away As Best We Can At The Mysterious Block From Which Our Life Is Made, The Black Vein Of Destiny Continually Reappears.
Block
Destiny
Black
The Soul Has Greater Need Of The Ideal Than Of The Real
Real
Soul
Needs
We Say And Exclaim Within Ourselves Without Breaking Silence, In A Tumult Where Everything Speaks Except Our Mouths. The Realities Of The Soul Are None The Less Real For Being Invisible And Impalpable.
Real
Silence
Soul
The Peasants Of The Asturias Believe That In Every Litter Of Wolves There Is One Pup That Is Killed By The Mother For Fear That On Growing Up It Would Devour The Other Little Ones.
Mother
Growing Up
Believe
In Saying No To Progress, It Is Not The Future Which They Condemn, But Themselves. They Give Themselves A Melancholy Disease; They Inoculate Themselves With The Past. There Is But One Way Of Refusing Tomorrow, That Is To Die.
Past
Giving
Progress
Be As A Bird Perched On A Frail Branch That She Feels Bending Beneath Her, Still She Sings Away All The Same, Knowing She Has Wings.
Animal
Birds Wings
Knowing
There Is A Sacred Horror About Everything Grand. It Is Easy To Admire Mediocrity And Hills; But Whatever Is Too Lofty, A Genius As Well As A Mountain, An Assembly As Well As A Masterpiece, Seen Too Near, Is Appalling.
Halloween
Greatness
Mountain
To Die Is Nothing; But It Is Terrible Not To Live.
Life
Les Mis
Terrible
It Is Those Books Which A Man Possesses But Does Not Read Which Constitute The Most Suspicious Evidence Against Him.
Book
Men
Doe
Love Has No Middle Term; Either It Destroys, Or It Saves. All Human Destiny Is This Dilemma. This Dilemma, Destruction Or Salvation, No Fate Proposes More Inexorably Than Love. Love Is Life, If It Is Not Death. Cradle; Coffin, Too. The Same Sentiment Says Yes And No In The Human Heart. Of All The Things God Has Made, The Human Heart Is The One That Sheds Most Light, And Alas! Most Night.
Heart
Fate
Night
The Great Acts Of Love Are Done By Those Who Are Habitually Performing Small Acts Of Kindness.
Inspirational
Kindness
Small Acts
At The Shrine Of Friendship Never Say Die, Let The Wine Of Friendship Never Run Dry
Friendship
Running
Wine
Yes, Instruction! Light! Light! Everything Comes From Light, And To Everything It Returns.
Light
Return
Instruction
Daring Is The Price Of Progress. All Splendid Conquests Are The Prize Of Boldness, More Or Less.
Progress
Splendid
Daring
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.
Simple
Doctors
Oil
A Bird Sings, A Child Prattles, But It Is The Same Hymn; Hymn Indistinct, Inarticulate, But Full Of Profound Meaning.
Children
Hymns
Profound
Genuflection Before The Idol Or The Dollar Destroys The Muscles Which Walk And The Will That Moves.
Moving
Idols
Dollars
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.
Providence
Misfortunes
Hypocrisy Is Nothing, In Fact, But A Horrible Hopefulness.
Hypocrisy
Facts
Horrible
Success Is An Ugly Thing. Men Are Deceived By Its False Resemblances To Merit.... They Confound The Brilliance Of The Firmament With The Star-shaped Footprints Of A Duck In The Mud.
Stars
Men
Ducks
Civilization Survives On The Constant Discovery Of Amity And An Equal Supply Of Damnation.
Peace
Discovery
Civilization
Being Good Is Easy, What Is Difficult Is Being Just.
Fairness
Easy
Difficult
Gutenberg's Invention Of Printing Is The Greatest Event-the Mother Of Revolution
Mother
Events
Gutenberg
We Are For Religion Against The Religions.
Wisdom
Les Miserable
Sometimes He Used A Spade In His Garden, And Sometimes He Read And Wrote. He Had But One Name For These Two Kinds Of Labor; He Called Them Gardening. ‘the Spirit Is A Garden,’ Said He
Garden
Names
Two
Loving Is Half Of Believing.
Love
Believe
Half
There Is One Spectacle Grander Than The Sea, That Is The Sky.
Nature
Sea
Sky
The Pupil Dilates In Darkness And In The End Finds Light, Just As The Soul Dilates In Misfortune And In The End Finds God.
Depression
Light
Soul
We Are Given Up To Those Gods, Those Monsters, Those Giants, — Our Thoughts.
Wisdom
Hands
Monsters
Nothing Is More Dangerous Than Discontinued Labor; It Is Habit Lost. A Habit Easy To Abandon, Difficult To Resume.
Wisdom
Les Mis
Habit
Genius: The Superhuman In Man.
Men
Genius
Superhuman
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