Children at once accept joy and happiness with quick familiarity, being themselves naturally all happiness and joy.

The man who does not know other languages, unless he is a man of genius, necessarily has deficiencies in his ideas.

But alas, if I have not maintained my victory, it is God's fault for not making man and the devil of equal strength.

"Animals are happy," said the queen. "They run no risk of going to hell." "They are there already," replied Josiana.

Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.

The aim of art is almost divine: to bring to life again if it is writing history, to create if it is writing poetry.

It is those books which a man possesses but does not read which constitute the most suspicious evidence against him.

The mountains, the forest, and the sea, render men savage; they develop the fierce, but yet do not destroy the human.

A bird sings, a child prattles, but it is the same hymn; hymn indistinct, inarticulate, but full of profound meaning.

One of the hardest labours of the just man is to expunge from his soul a malevolence which it is difficult to efface.

My misfortune is that I still resemble a man too much. I should liked to be wholly a beast like that goat. - Quasimodo

Though one believes in nothing, there are moments in life when one accepts the religion of the temple nearest at hand.

To meditate is to labour; to think is to act. Folded arms work, closed hands perform, a gaze fixed on heaven is a toil.

He sought...to transform the grief which looks down into the grave by showing it the grief which looks up to the stars.

It is the essence of truth that it is never excessive.... We must not resort to the flame where only light is required.

Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.

Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive.

A library implies an act of faith which generations, still in darkness hid, sign in their night in witness of the dawn.

Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.

Of all the things that God has made, the human heart is the one which sheds the most light, alas! and the most darkness.

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves.

No man is more unhappy than the one who is never in adversity; the greatest affliction of life is never to be afflicted.

Excitement is not enjoyment: in calmness lies true pleasure. The most precious wines are sipped, not bolted at a swallow.

A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.

There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

Crime is redeemed by remorse, but not by a blow of the axe or slipknot. Blood has to be washed by tears but not by blood.

Where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incident, chaos will soon reign.

What is said about men often has as much influence upon their lives, and especially upon their destinies, as what they do.

He would give all of his clothes to his servant, admonishing him NOT to return them until he had completed his day's work.

War can only be qualified by its object, and there is neither foreign war nor civil war, there is only just or unjust war.

What matters deafness of the ear, when the mind hears? The one true deafness, the incurable deafness, is that of the mind.

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.

The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God.

Jesus wept; Voltaire smiled. From that divine tear and from that human smile is derived the grace of present civilization.

At a certain depth of distress, the poor, in their stupor, groan no longer over evil, and are no longer thankful for good.

Love is a portion of the soul itself, and it is of the same nature as the celestial breathing of the atmosphere of paradise.

What's our baggage? Only vows, Happiness, and all our care, And the flower that sweetly shows Nestling lightly in your hair.

Mankind is not a circle with a single center but an ellipse with two focal points of which facts are one and ideas the other.

Let us fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices are the real murderers. The great dangers lie within ourselves.

...there is a point when the unfortunate and the infamous are associated and confused in a word, a mortal word, les miserables

There is a spectacle more grand than the sea; it is heaven; there is a spectacle more grand than heaven; it is the conscience.

Everything Changes. The only thing that remains immovable across the centuries and fixes the character of a people is cooking.

A house is built of logs and stone, of tiles and posts and piers; a home is built of loving deeds that stand a thousand years.

When, like an Emir of tyrannic power, Sirius appears, and on the horizon black Bids countless stars pursue their mighty track.

Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls.

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

It seems as though, at the approach of a certain dark hour, the light of heaven infills those who are leaving the light of earth.

The little people must be sacred to the big ones, and it is from the rights of the weak that the duty of the strong is comprised.

If you wish to understand what Revolution is, call it Progress; and if you wish to understand what Progress is, call it Tomorrow.

The need of the immaterial is the most deeply rooted of all needs. One must have bread; but before bread, one must have the ideal.

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