“It is not enough to be happy, one must be content.”

“If we wish to be happy, monsieur, we must never comprehend duty; for, as soon as we comprehend it, it is implacable. One would say that it punishes you for comprehending it; but no, it rewards you for it; for it puts you into a hell where you feel God at your side.”

“It's not enough to abolish abuse; custom must also be transformed. The mill was pulled down, but the wind still blows.”

“Thoughtful minds make little use of this expression: the happy and the unhappy. In this world, clearly a vestibule of another, no one is happy.”

“He had not lived long enough to have discovered that nothing is more close at hand than the impossible, and what must be looked for is the unforeseen.”

“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.”

“To destroy abuses is not enough; Habits must also be changed. The windmill has gone, but the wind is still there."~old man G--- to Monseigneur Bienvenu Myriel”