Throughout the month of May, every night, in that poor, wild garden, under that shrubbery, each day, more perfumed and dense, two human beings composed of every chastity and every innocence, every flo...
This cavern is below all, and the enemy of all; it is hatred, without exception.
There is a way of avoiding which resembles seeking.
There exist there immense numbers of unknown beings, among whom swarm types of the strangest, from the porter of la Rapée to the knacker of Montfaucon. Fex urbis, exclaims Cicero; mob, adds Burke, ind...
There are plenty who regard a wall behind which something is happening as a very curious thing.
The wretchedness of a child interests a mother, the wretchedness of a young man interests a young girl, the wretchedness of an old man interests no one. It is, of all distresses, the coldest.
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly speaking, loved in spite of yourself. To be served is to be caressed.
The reader will pardon us another little digression; foreign to the object of this book but characteristic and useful . . . .
The owl goes not into the nest of the lark.
The men of yesterday are spectres; those of to-morrow are forms. The eye of the spirit distinguishes them but obscurely. The embryonic work of the future is one of the visions of philosophy.
The hatred of luxury is not an intelligent hatred. It implies a hatred of arts.
The four walls of the living redoubt had fallen, hardly could a quivering be detected here and there among the corpses; and thus the French legions, grander than the Roman legions, expired at Mont-Sai...
The eye of the spirit can nowhere find more dazzling brilliance and more shadow than in man; it can fix itself on no other thing which is more formidable, more complicated, more mysterious, and more i...
The duty of the inn-keeper,is to sell to the first comer, stews, repose, light, fire, dirtysheets, a servant, lice, and a smile; to stop passers-by, to empty smallpurses, and to honestly lighten heavy...
The delight we inspire in others has this enchanting peculiarity that, far from being diminished like every other reflection, it returns to us more radiant than ever.
The best way to look at the soul is through closed eyes.
That's nice! You have called me Eponine!
That night, before going to bed, he went on to say, 'Never be afraid of thieves and murderers. They represent the dangers without, which are not worth worrying about. Be afraid of ourselves. Prejudice...
Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing instruction for all and it must answer for the night with it produces. If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committ...
Success is a very hideous thing. Its false resemblance to merit deceives men.