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If You Wish To Understand What Revolution Is, Call It Progress; And If You Wish To Understand What Progress Is, Call It Tomorrow.
-Victor Hugo
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If You Wish To

Victor Hugo
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If You Wish To Understand What Revolution Is, Call It Progress; And If You Wish To Understand What Progress Is, Call It Tomorrow.

Understanding the Quote: "if you wish to understand what revolution is, call it progress; and..."

This quote by Victor Hugo reflects deeply on the theme of wish. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Wish, Progress, Revolution, 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 wish and progress. 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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Wish
Progress
Revolution
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I Dislike Wealth And Prosperity, Especially That Of Other Men.
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At The Moment When Her Eyes Closed, When All Feeling Vanished In Her, She Thought That She Felt A Touch Of Fire Imprinted On Her Lips, A Kiss More Burning Than The Red-hot Iron Of The Executioner.
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For True Poetry, Complete Poetry, Consists In The Harmony Of Contraries. Hence, It Is Time To Say Aloud--and It Is Here Above Allthat Exceptions Prove The Rule--that Everything That Exists In Nature Exists In Art.
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The Learned Man Knows That He Is Ignorant.
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Love Each Other Dearly Always. There Is Scarcely Anything Else In The World But That: To Love One Another.
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Dear God! How Beauty Varies In Nature And Art.
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All The Forces In The World Are Not So Powerful As An Idea Whose Time Has Come.
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Now Life Has Killed The Dream I Dreamed.
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Men Are Still Men. The Despot's Wickedness Comes Of Ill Teaching, And Of Power's Excess,-- Comes Of The Purple He From Childhood Wears, Slaves Would Be Tyrants If The Chance Were Theirs.
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One Cannot Resist An Idea Whose Time Has Come.
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Nothing Can Be More Depressing Than To Expose, Naked To The Light Of Thought, The Hideous Growth Of Argot. Indeed It Is Like A Sort Of Repellent Animal Intended To Dwell In Darkness Which Has Been Dragged Out Of Its Cloaca. One Seems To See A Horned And Living Creature Viciously Struggling To Be Restored To The Place Where It Belongs. One Word Is Like A Claw, Another Like A Sightless And Bleeding Eye; And There Are Phrases Which Clutch Like The Pincers Of A Crab. And All Of It Is Alive With The Hideous Vitality Of Things That Have Organized Themselves Amid Disorganization.
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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.
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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.
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The Man Who Does Not Know Other Languages, Unless He Is A Man Of Genius, Necessarily Has Deficiencies In His Ideas.
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I'd Rather Be Hissed At For A Good Verse, Than Applauded For A Bad One.
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You Ask Me What Forces Me To Speak? A Strange Thing; My Conscience.
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Our Life Dreams The Utopia. Our Death Achieves The Ideal.
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That Is To Be Two And To Be But One. A Man And A Woman Mingled Into One Angel. It Is Heaven.
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Love Partakes Of The Soul Itself. It Is Of The Same Nature. Like It, It Is A Divine Spark, Like It, It Is Incorruptible, Indivisible, Imperishable, It Is The Point Of Fire Which Is Within Us, Which Is Immortal And Infinite, Which Nothing Can Limit And Nothing Can Extinguish.
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Whenever A Man's Friends Begin To Compliment Him About Looking Young, He May Be Sure That They Think He Is Growing Old.
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Certain Thoughts Are Prayers. There Are Moments When, Whatever Be The Attitude Of The Body, The Soul Is On Its Knees.
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The Peculiarity Of Sunrise Is To Make Us Laugh At All Our Terrors Of The Night, And Our Laugh Is Always Proportioned To The Fear We Have Had.
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Children At Once Accept Joy And Happiness With Quick Familiarity, Being Themselves Naturally All Happiness And Joy.
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Her Soul Trembled On Her Lips Like A Drop Of Dew On A Flower.
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Such Is The Remorseless Progression Of Human Society, Shedding Lives And Souls As It Goes On Its Way. It Is An Ocean Into Which Men Sink Who Have Been Cast Out By The Law And Consigned, With Help Most Cruelly Withheld, To Moral Death. The Sea Is The Pitiless Social Darkness Into Which The Penal System Casts Those It Has Condemned, An Unfathomable Waste Of Misery. The Human Soul, Lost In Those Depths, May Become A Corpse. Who Shall Revive It?
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If I Have Not Been Exposed And Am Not In Any Danger Of Pursuit. But I Have Been Exposed, I Am Pursued - By Myself! That Is A Pursuer That Does Not Readily Let Go.
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...man Lives By Affirmation Even More Than He Does By Bread.
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We Teachers Make The Road, Others Will Make The Journey.
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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.
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By Putting Forward The Hands Of The Clock You Shall Not Advance The Hour.
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I Exist," Murmurs Someone Whose Name Is Everyone. "i'm Young And In Love; I Am Old And I Want Rest; I Work, I Prosper, I Do Good Business, I Have Houses To Rent, Money In State Securities; I Am Happy, I Have Wife And Children; I Like All These Things And I Want To Go On Living, So Leave Me Alone."... There Are Moments When All This Casts A Deep Chill On The Large-minded Pioneers Of The Human Race.
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A Criminal Remains A Criminal Whether He Uses A Convict's Suit Or A Monarch's Crown.
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What Is The Cat?" He Exclaimed. "it Is A Corrective. God, Having Made The Mouse, Said, 'i've Made A Blunder.' And He Made The Cat. The Cat Is The Erratum Of The Mouse. The Mouse, Plus The Cat, Is The Revised And Corrected Proof Of Creation.
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Revolutions Are Not Born Of Chance But Of Necessity.
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The Nearer I Approach The End, The Plainer I Hear Around Me The Immortal Symphonies Of The Worlds Which Invite Me. It Is Marvelous, Yet Simple.
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For Prying Into Any Human Affairs, Non Are Equal To Those Whom It Does Not Concern.
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What's Our Baggage? Only Vows, Happiness, And All Our Care, And The Flower That Sweetly Shows Nestling Lightly In Your Hair.
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He Had, They Said, Tasted In Succession All The Apples Of The Tree Of Knowledge, And, Whether From Hunger Or Disgust, Had Ended By Tasting The Forbidden Fruit.
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Phenomena Intersect; To See But One Is To See Nothing.
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Every Bad Institution Of This World Ends By Suicide.
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For, To Make Deserts, God, Who Rules Mankind, Begins With Kings, And Ends The Work By Wind.
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They Say Love Is Blindness Of Heart; I Say Not To Love Is Blindness.
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Nature Is Pitiless; She Never Withdraws Her Flowers, Her Music, Her Fragrance, And Her Sunlight From Before Human Cruelty Or Suffering.
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You Look At A Star For Two Reasons, Because It Is Luminous, And Because It Is Impenetrable. You Have Beside You A Sweeter Radiance And A Greater Mystery, Woman.
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Civil War.... What Did The Words Mean? Was There Any Such Thing As "foreign War"? Was Not All Warfare Between Men Warfare Between Brothers?
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Who Then Can Calculate The Path Of The Molecule? How Do We Know That The Creations Of Worlds Are Not Determined By The Fall Of Grains Of Sand?
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To Love Or Have Loved Is All-sufficing. We Must Not Ask For More. No Other Pearl Is To Be Found In The Shadowfolds Of Life. To Love Is An Accomplishment.
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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
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To Sum Up All, Let It Be Known That Science And Religion Are Two Identical Words. The Learned Do Not Suspect This, No More Do The Religious. These Two Words Express The Two Sides Of The Same Fact, Which Is The Infinite. Religion-science, This Is The Future Of The Human Mind.
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Jesus Wept; Voltaire Smiled. From That Divine Tear And From That Human Smile Is Derived The Grace Of Present Civilization.
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His Judgement Demonstrates That One Can Be A Genius And Understand Nothing Of An Art That Is Not One's Own.
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Who Can Be Sure That Jean Valjean Had Not Been On The Verge Of Losing Heart And Giving Up The Struggle? In Loving He Recovered His Strength. But The Truth Is That He Was No Less Vulnerable Than Cosette. He Protected Her And She Sustained Him. Thanks To Him She Could Go Forward Into Life, And Thanks To Her He Could Continue Virtous. He Was The Child's Support And She His Mainstay. Sublime, Unfathomable Marvel Of The Balance Of Destiny!
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To Put Everything In Balance Is Good, To Put Everything In Harmony Is Better.
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The Most Excellent Symbol Of The People Is The Paving Stone. One Walks On It Until It Falls On One's Head.
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There Is A Spectacle More Grand Than The Sea; It Is Heaven; There Is A Spectacle More Grand Than Heaven; It Is The Conscience.
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The True Artist Can Only Labor Con Amore.
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Labor
What Dangers You Run, O Noble Souls! Often, You Give Your Heart, But We Take Only Your Body. Your Heart Is Left To You And You Look At It In The Shadows And Shudder.
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Heart
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Those Who Always Pray Are Necessary To Those Who Never Pray.
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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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Feet
Crowds
Indigestion Is Charged By God With Enforcing Morality On The Stomach.
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Children
Soul
New Life
Vengeance Comes From The Individual And Punishment From God.
Wisdom
Punishment
Vengeance
Let Us Fear Ourselves. Prejudices Are The Real Robbers; Vices Are The Real Murderers. The Great Dangers Lie Within Ourselves.
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An Intelligent Hell Would Be Better Than A Stupid Paradise.
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Winter Is On My Head, But Eternal Spring Is In My Heart; I Breathe At This Hour The Fragrance Of The Lilacs, The Violets, And The Roses, As At Twenty Years Ago.
Spring
Heart
Winter
Inanimate Objects Sometimes Appear Endowed With A Strange Power Of Sight. A Statue Notices, A Tower Watches, The Face Of An Edifice Contemplates.
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Personality
Watches
Marius Was Of The Temperament That Sinks Into Grief And Remains There; Cosette Was Of The Sort That Plunges In And Comes Out Again.
Grief
Plunge
Cosette
A Doctor’s Door Should Never Be Closed, A Priest's Door Should Always Be Open.
Doctors
Doors
Should
People Weighed Down With Troubles Do Not Look Back; They Know Only Too Well That Misfortune Stalks Them.
People
Looks
Trouble
A Day Will Come When A Cannon Will Be Exhibited In Museums, Just As Instruments Of Torture Are Now, And The People Will Be Astonished That Such A Thing Could Have Been.
Fighting
Museums
People
Civil War? What Does That Mean? Is There Any Foreign War? Isn't Every War Fought Between Men, Between Brothers?
Brother
War
Mean
It Is God Who Makes Woman Beautiful, It Is The Devil Who Makes Her Pretty.
Beautiful
Women
Pretty Woman
To Err Is Human. To Loaf Is Parisian.
Paris
Humans
Err Is Human
We Are Reassured Almost As Foolishly As We Are Alarmed; Human Nature Is So Constituted.
Human Nature
Mankind
Humans
The Ode Lives Upon The Ideal, The Epic Upon The Grandiose, The Drama Upon The Real.
Wisdom
Real
Drama
Ecclesiastes Names Thee Almighty, The Maccabees Name Thee Creator, The Epistle To The Ephesians Names Thee Liberty, Baruch Names Thee Immensity, The Psalms Name Thee Wisdom And Truth, John Names Thee Light, The Book Of Kings Names Thee Lord, Exodus Names Thee Providence, Leviticus Sanctity, Esdras Justice, Creation Names Thee God, Man Names Thee Father; But Solomon Names Thee Compassion, Which Is The Most Beautiful Of All Thy Names.
Beautiful
God
Kings
Everything Speaks: The Flowing Airstream And The Sailing Halycon, The Blade Of Grass, The Flower, The Bud, The Element; Did You Imagine The Universe To Be Otherwise?
Flower
Sailing
Bud
Loving Is Half Of Believing.
Love
Believe
Half
Dark Error's Other Hidden Side Is Truth.
Dark
Errors
Sides
What Is History? An Echo Of The Past In The Future; A Reflex From The Future On The Past.
Wisdom
Past
Echoes
At Least You Are Mine! Soon – In A Few Months, Perhaps, My Angel Will Sleep In My Arms, Will Awaken In My Arms, Will Live There. All Your Thought At All Moments, All Your Looks Will Be For Me; All My Thought, All My Moments, All My Looks Will Be For You!
Sleep
Angel
Looks
There Are, As We Know, Powerful And Illustrious Atheists. At Bottom, Led Back To The Truth By Their Very Force, They Are Not Absolutely Sure That They Are Atheists; It Is With Them Only A Question Of Definition, And In Any Case, If They Do Not Believe In God, Being Great Minds, They Prove God.
Atheist
Powerful
Believe
A Day Will Come When All Nations On Our Continent Will Form A European Brotherhood... A Day Will Come When We Shall See... The United States Of America And The United States Of Europe Face To Face, Reaching Out For Each Other Across The Seas.
Country
Europe
Sea
I Tried. But I Feel That I Haven't Given Utterance To The Thousandth Part Of What Lies Within Me. When I Go To The Grave I Can Say As Others Have Said, "i Have Finished My Day's Work." But I Cannot Say, "i Have Finished My Life." My Day's Work Will Begin Again The Next Morning. The Tomb Is Not A Blind Alley; It Is A Thoroughfare. It Closes On The Twilight, But Opens On The Dawn.
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Lying
Twilight
What Makes Night Within Us May Leave Stars.
Inspirational
Uplifting
Wisdom
They Adored Each Other; But Still The Permanent And The Immutable Subsist. We May Love And Laugh, Pout, Clasp Hands, Smile, And Exchange Endearments, But That Does Not Affect Eternity. Two Lovers Hide In The Dusk Of Evening, Amid Flowers And The Twittering Of Birds, And Enchant Each Other With Their Hearts Shinning In Their Eyes; But The Stars In Their Course Still Circle Through Infinite Space.
Stars
Flower
Eye
There Is Such A Thing As The Pressure Of Darkness.
Darkness
Pressure
Work, Which Makes A Man Free, And Thought, Which Makes Him Worthy Of Freedom.
Freedom
Men
Worthy
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
Fame Must Have Enemies, As Light Must Have Gnats.
Wisdom
Light
Gnats
While Contemplating The Bride, And Eyeing The Cake Of Soap, He Muttered Between His Teeth: 'tuesday. It Was Not Tuesday. Was It Tuesday? Perhaps It Was Tuesday. Yes, It Was Tuesday.' No One Has Ever Discovered To What This Monologue Referred. Yes, Perchance, This Monologue Had Some Connection With The Last Occasion On Which He Had Dined, Three Days Before, For It Was Now Friday.
Friday
Cake
Tuesday
We May Remark In Passing That To Be Blind And Beloved May, In This World Where Nothing Is Perfect, Be Among The Most Strangely Exquisite Forms Of Happiness. The Supreme Happiness In Life Is The Assurance Of Being Loved; Of Being Loved For Oneself, Even In Spite Of Oneself; And This Assurance The Blind Man Possesses. In His Affliction, To Be Served Is To Be Caressed. Does He Lack Anything? No. Possessing Love He Is Not Deprived Of Light. A Love, Moreover, That Is Wholly Pure. There Can Be No Blindness Where There Is This Certainty.
Life
Men
Light
To Commit The Least Possible Sin Is The Law For Man. To Live Without Sin Is The Dream Of An Angel. Everything Terrestrial Is Subject To Sin. Sin Is A Gravitation.
Dream
Angel
Men
Too Much Improvisation Leaves The Mind Stupidly Void.
Mind
Too Much
Void
Blessed Be Providence Which Has Given To Each His Toy: The Doll To The Child, The Child To The Woman, The Woman To The Man, The Man To The Devil!
Children
Blessed
Men
Ideas Can No More Flow Backward Than Can A River.
Ideas
Rivers
Flow
The Greatest Happiness Of Life Is The Conviction That We Are Loved; Loved For Ourselves, Or Rather, Loved In Spite Of Ourselves.
Love
Life
Happiness
A Strange Thing Has Happened, Do You Know? I Am In Darkness. There Is A Person Who, Departing, Took Away The Sun.
Darkness
Sun
Strange
To Love Or Have Loved, That Is Enough. Ask Nothing Further. There Is No Other Pearl To Be Found In The Dark Folds Of Life.
Love
Dark
Les Mis
What Is Said About Men Often Has As Much Influence Upon Their Lives, And Especially Upon Their Destinies, As What They Do.
Destiny
Men
Influence
O Youth! Thou Often Tearest Thy Wings Against The Thorns Of Voluptuousness.
Wings
Thorns
Youth
What Says The Law? You Will Not Kill. How Does It Say It? By Killing!
Law
Doe
Death Penalty
Nations, Like Stars, Are Entitled To Eclipse. All Is Well, Provided The Light Returns And The Eclipse Does Not Become Endless Night. Dawn And Resurrection Are Synonymous. The Reappearance Of The Light Is The Same As The Survival Of The Soul.
Wisdom
Stars
Night
The Flesh Is The Upper Surface Of The Unknown.
Flesh
Surface
I Like The Laughter That Opens The Lips And The Heart, Shows At The Same Time The Pearls And The Soul.
Laughter
Heart
Soul
His Whole Life Was Now Summed Up In Two Words: Absolute Uncertainty Within An Impenetrable Fog.
Fog
Two
Whole Life
God Secludes Himself; But The Thinker Listens At The Door.
God
Thoughtful
Thinking
The Most Ferocious Animals Are Disarmed By Caresses To Their Young.
Animal
Parent
Young
He Saw Before Him Two Roads, Both Equally Straight ; But He Saw Two; And That Terrified Him — Him, Who Had Never In His Life Known But One Straight Line. And, Bitter Anguish, These Two Roads Were Contradictory.
Two
Lines
Saws
The Parisian Is To The French What The Athenian Was To The Greeks: No One Sleeps Better Than He, No One Is More Openly Frivolous And Idle, No One Appears More Heedless. But This Is Misleading. He Is Given To Every Kind Of Listlessness, But When There Is Glory To Be Won He May Be Inspired With Every Kind Of Fury. Give Him A Pike And He Will Enact The Tenth Of August, A Musket And You Have Austerlitz. He Was The Springboard Of Napoleon And The Mainstay Of Danton. At The Cry Of "la Patrie" He Enrols, And At The Call Of Liberty He Tears Up The Pavements. Beware Of Him!
Sleep
August
Paris
Thought Is The Labor Of The Intellect, Reverie Is Its Pleasure.
Inspirational
Wisdom
Ideas
What Love Commences Can Be Finished By God Alone.
Finished
Woman, Nude, Is The Blue Sky. Clouds And Garments Are An Obstacle To Contemplation. Beauty And Infinity Would Be Gazed Upon Unveiled.
Beauty
Women
Clouds
Let Us Sacrifice One Day To Gain Perhaps A Whole Life.
Sacrifice
One Day
Gains
There Are Many Tongues To Talk, And But Few Heads To Think.
Wisdom
Thinking
Tongue
When Two Souls Have Finally Found Each Other, There Is Established Between Them A Union Which Begins On Earth And Continues Forever In Heaven.
Two
Forever
Heaven
The Wind Of Revolutions Is Not Tractable.
Wisdom
Wind
Revolution
If She Gives Me All Her Time It Is Because I Have All Her Heart.
Heart
Giving
Give Me
There Are Moments When A Rope's End, A Pole, The Branch Of The Tree, Is Life Itself, And It Is A Frightful Thing To See A Living Being Lose His Hold Upon It, And Fall Like A Ripe Fruit.
Fall
Tree
Rope
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.
Wisdom
Sea
Sky
Now, One Cannot Read Nonsense With Impunity.
Nonsense
Impunity
Have But Luck, And You Will Have The Rest; Be Fortunate, And You Will Be Thought Great.
Luck
Fortune
Fortunate
For There Are Many Great Deeds Done In The Small Struggles Of Life.
Struggle
Deeds Done
Done
We Are On The Side Of Religion As Opposed To Religions, And We Are Among Those Who Believe In The Wretched Inadequacy Of Sermons And The Sublimity Of Prayer.
Prayer
Believe
Religion
Melancholy Is The Happiness Of Being Sad.
Being Sad
Melancholy
Pleasure And Happiness
Every Blade Has Two Edges; He Who Wounds With One Wounds Himself With The Other.
Two
Blades
Edges
He Sought...to Transform The Grief Which Looks Down Into The Grave By Showing It The Grief Which Looks Up To The Stars.
Stars
Grief
Looks
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)
America
Love At First Sight
Dancer
I Represent A Party Which Does Not Yet Exist: The Party Revolution-civilization. This Party Will Make The Twentieth Century. There Will Issue From It First The United States Of Europe, Then The United States Of The World.
Party
Europe
Civilization
Excitement Is Not Enjoyment: In Calmness Lies True Pleasure. The Most Precious Wines Are Sipped, Not Bolted At A Swallow.
Lying
Wine
Excitement
I Am In The Night. There Is A Being Who Has Gone Away And Carried The Heavens With Her. Oh! To Be Laid Side By Side In The Same Tomb, Hand Clasped In Hand, And From Time To Time, In The Darkness, To Caress A Finger Gently, That Would Suffice For My Eternity.
Love
Crush
Night
Superstitions, Bigotries, Hypocrisies, Prejudices, These Phantoms, Phantoms Though They Be, Cling To Life; They Have Teeth And Nails In Their Shadowy Substance, And We Must Grapple With Them Individually And Make War On Them Without Truce; For It Is One Of Humanity's Inevitabilities To Be Condemned To Eternal Struggle With Phantoms.
War
Struggle
Hypocrisy
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