Quotes by Victor Hugo
14 quotes by Victor Hugo (died 1885), taken from 4 works. Each is given word for word, with its work, its passage and its source.
Works quoted: Les Misérables, Notre-Dame de Paris, Toilers of the Sea and Ninety-Three.
Les Misérables
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“The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved; loved for one’s own sake—let us say rather, loved in spite of one’s self.”
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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 inmost recesses of the soul.”
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“There are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.”
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“There are men who toil at extracting gold; he toiled at the extraction of pity. Universal misery was his mine.”
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“God can add nothing to the happiness of those who love, except to give them endless duration.”
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“Laughter is the sun which drives winter from the human face.”
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“Childish prattle, repetitions, laughter at nothing, nonsense, everything that is deepest and most sublime in the world! The only things which are worth the trouble of saying and hearing!”
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“Youth is the smile of the future in the presence of an unknown quantity, which is itself.”
Notre-Dame de Paris
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“Love is like a tree; it sprouts forth of itself, sends its roots out deeply through our whole being, and often continues to flourish greenly over a heart in ruins.”
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“Mothers often love best that child which has caused them the most suffering.”
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“Clemency is the only light which can enlighten the interior of so great a soul.”
Toilers of the Sea
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“Melancholy is a twilight state; suffering melts into it and becomes a sombre joy. Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad.”
Ninety-Three
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“Though there be night within us, we may still possess the stars.”
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“The lisping of a human soul from the lips of childhood may well be called the most sublime of earthly songs.”