Victor Hugo Quotes
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And if it happened to be a Christmas-night when the great bell seemed to rattle in its throat as it called the faithful to the midnight mass, there was such an indescribable air of life spread over the sombre facade that the great door-way looked as if it were swallowing the entire crowd, and the rose-window staring at them.
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The soul does not give itself up to despair until it has exhausted all illusions.
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Vengeance comes from the individual and punishment from God.
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First problem. To produce wealth. Second problem. To distribute it.
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Heaven, on occasion, half opens its arms to us; and that is the great moment.
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Happiness wishes everybody happy.
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I advance in life, I grow more simple, and I become more and more patriotic for humanity.
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No matter who you are, the thought of so much suffering and degradation must cause you to shudder at the sight of a veil or cassock, those two shrouds of human invention.
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God knows better than we do what we need.
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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.
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The rich's paradise was created by the poor's hell.
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Progress is not accomplished in one stage.
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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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To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better.
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Humanity is our common lot. All men are made of the same clay. There is no difference, at least here on Earth, in the fate assigned to us. We come of the same void, inhabit the same flesh, are dissolved in the same ashes. But ignorance infecting the human substance turns it black, and that incurable blackness, gaining possession of the soul, becomes Evil.
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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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The saints were his friends, and blessed him; the monsters were his friends, and guarded him.
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Strong and rare natures are thus created; misery, almost always a stepmother, is sometimes a mother; privation gives birth to power of soul and mind; distress is the nurse of self-respect; misfortune is a good breast for great souls.
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The man who fights against his own country is never a hero.
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Often the losing of a battle leads to the winning of progress. Less glory but greater liberty: the drum is silent and the voices of reason can be heard.
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Logic ignores the almost, just as the sun ignores the candle.
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The cruel of heart have their own black happiness.
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And, moreover, when it happens that both are sincere and good, nothing will mix and amalgamate more easily than an old priest and an old soldier. In reality, they are the same kind of man. One has devoted himself to country upon earth, the other to his country in heaven; there is no other difference.
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A queen, devoid of beauty is not queen; She needs the royalty of beauty's mien.