34 Les Misérables Quotes

Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" is more than just a cornerstone of classic literature; it’s a tapestry of profound insights and stirring emotions. Within its pages lie quotes that have resonated across generations, encapsulating the human experience in all its complexity. From the depths of despair to the heights of redemption, these 34 carefully selected quotes offer a glimpse into the enduring wisdom and timeless beauty that define this monumental work. Join us as we delve into the words that continue to inspire and move readers around the world.

1. “For the rest, he was the same to all men, the fashionable world and the ordinary people. He judged nothing in haste, or without taking account of the cirumstances. He said, 'Let me see how the fault arose.” - Victor Hugo

2. “So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine; so long as the three problems of the century - the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labour, the ruin of women by starvation and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words and from a still broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this.” - Victor Hugo

3. “Morality is truth in full bloom.” - Victor Hugo

4. “Before him he saw two roads, both equally straight; but he did see two; and that terrified him--he who had never in his life known anything but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory.” - Victor Hugo

5. “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.” - Victor Hugo

6. “Marius and Cosette were in the dark in regard to each other. They did not speak, they did not bow, they were not acquainted; they saw each other; and, like the stars in the sky separated by millions of leagues, they lived by gazing upon each other.” - Victor Hugo

7. “She let her head fall back upon Marius' knees and her eyelids closed. He thought that poor soul had gone. Eponine lay motionless; but just when Marius supposed her for ever asleep, she slowly opened her eyes in which the gloomy deepness of death appeared, and said to him with an accent the sweetness on which already seemed to come from another world:"And then, do you know, Monsieur Marius, I believe I was a little in love with you."She essayed to smile again and expired.” - Victor Hugo

8. “The book the reader has now before his eyes - from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever the omissions, the exceptions, or the faults - is the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God. Starting point: matter; goal: the soul. Hydra at the beginning, angel at the end.” - Victor Hugo

9. “A cannonball travels only two thousand miles an hour; light travels two hundred thousand miles a second. Such is the superiority of Jesus Christ over Napoleon.” - Victor Hugo

10. “A doctor’s door should never be closed, a priest's door should always be open.” - Victor Hugo

11. “Do not ask the name of the person who asks you for a bed for a night. He whose name is a burden to him needs shelter more than any one.” - Victor Hugo

12. “The beginning as well as the end of all his thoughts was hatred of human law, that hatred which, if it be not checked in its growth by some providential event, becomes, in a certain time, hatred of society, then hatred of the human race, and then hatred of creation, and reveals itself by a vague and incessant desire to injure some living being, it matters not who.” - Victor Hugo

13. “The barber ran to the broken window, and saw Gavroche, who was running with all his might towards the Saint Jean market. On passing the barber's shop, Gavroche, who had the two children on his mind, could not resist the desire to bid him "good day", and had sent a stone through his sash."See!" screamed the barber, who from white had become blue, "he makes mischief. What has anybody done to this Gamin?” - Victor Hugo

14. “Et puis, tenez, monsieur Marius,je crois que j'étais un peu amoureuse de vous.” - Victor Hugo

15. “These two beings, who had loved each other so exclusively, and with so touching a love, and who had lived so long for each other, were now suffering beside one another and through one another; without speaking of it, without harsh feeling, and smiling all the while.” - Victor Hugo

16. “A breath of Paris preserves the soul.” - Victor Hugo

17. “Let no one misunderstand our idea; we do not confound what are called 'political opinions' with that grand aspiration after progress with that sublime patriotic, democratic, and human faith, which, in our days, should be the very foundation of all generous intelligence.” - Victor Hugo

18. “So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862. [Translation by Isabel F. Hapgood]” - Victor Hugo

19. “The music department is going to do a musical next year," he tells me, rolling his eyes like I would.Justine is running toward me, and I can tell by the look on her face that she's found out about the musical, too.I sigh, shaking my head. "I have to give Justine a lesson in holding back," I tell him. "She's just way too enthusiastic".She grabs my arms in excitement. "We're doing Les Mis."I scream hysterically, clutching her as we jump up and down.” - Melina Marchetta

20. “A shadow is hard to seize by the throat and dash to the ground.” - Victor Hugo

21. “Joy is the reflex of terror.” - Victor Hugo

22. “As with stomachs, we should pity minds that do not eat.” - Victor Hugo

23. “There comes an hour when protest no longer suffices; after philosophy there must be action; the strong hand finishes what the idea has sketched.” - Victor Hugo

24. “Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.” - Victor Hugo

25. “Tatkala semesta menciut menjadi sesosok makhluk, tatkala sesosok makhluk meluas bahkan sampai menjangkau Tuhan, maka itulah cinta.” - Victor Hugo

26. “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.” - Victor Hugo

27. “And remember, the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to see the face of God.” - Herbert Kretzmer

28. “What greater flood can there be than the flood of ideas? How quickly they submerge all that they set out to destroy, how rapidly do they create terrifying depths?” - Victor Hugo

29. “Do you hear the people sing?Singing a song of angry men?It is the music of a peopleWho will not be slaves again!When the beating of your heartEchoes the beating of the drumsThere is a life about to startWhen tomorrow comes!” - Do You Hear the People Sing Les Miserables

30. “The most beautiful of altars, he said, is the soul of an unhappy creature consoled and thankfing God.” - Victor Hugo

31. “Slowly he took out the clothes in which, ten years beforem Cosette had left Montfermeil; first the little dress, then the black scarf, then the great heavy child's shoes Cosette could still almost have worn, so small was her foot, then the vest of very thich fustian, then the knitted petticoat, the the apron with pockets, then the wool stockings.... Then his venerable white head fell on the bed, this old stoical heart broke, his face was swallowed up, so to speak, in Cosette's clothes, and anybody who had passed along the staircase at that moment would have heard irrepressible sobbing.” - Victor Hugo

32. “The scaffold is the accomplice of the executioner; it devours, it eats flesh, it drinks blood; the scaffold is a sort of monster fabricated by the judge and the carpenter, a spectre which seems to live with a horrible vitality composed of all the death which it has inflicted.” - Victor Hugo

33. “As for us, we who do not believe what these women believe, but live like them by faith, never could look without a sort of tender and religious awe, a kind of pity full of envy, at those devoted beings, trembling yet confident-those humble yet august souls, who date to live on the brink of the great mystery, waiting between the world closed to them and heaven not yet opened; turned toward the daylight not yet seen, with only the happiness of thinking that they know where it is; their aspirations directed toward the abyss and the unknown, their gaze fixes on the motionless obscurity, kneeling, dismayed, stupefied, shuddering, and half carried of sometimes by the deep breath of Eternity.” - Victor Hugo

34. “Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.” - Victor Hugo