“Sire, you are looking at a plain man, and I am looking at a great man. Each of us may benefit.”

“Sire," said M. Myriel, "you are looking at a good man, and I at a great man. Each of us can profit by it.”

“Sift each of us through the great sieve of circumstance and you have a residue, great or small as the case may be, that is the man or the woman.”

“One day—when the emperor had come to call on his uncle the cardinal—our worthy priest happened to be waiting as his Majesty went by. Noticing that the old man looked at him with a certain curiosity, Napoleon turned around and said brusquely, ‘Who is this good man looking at me?’‘Sire,’ replied M. Myriel, “you are looking at a good man, and I at a great one. May we both be the better for it.”That evening the emperor asked the cardinal the priest’s name, Still later, M. Myriel was totally surprised to learn he had been appointed Bishop of Digne.”

“I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man.”

“I am a bundle of nerves dressed up to look like a man!”