It seemed to be a necessary ritual that he should prepare himself for sleep by meditating under the solemnity of the night sky... a mysterious transaction between the infinity of the soul and the infinity of the universe.
Victor HugoRead
Emergencies have always been necessary to progress. It was darkness which produced the lamp. It was fog that produced the compass. It was hunger that drove us to exploration. And it took a depression to teach us the real value of a job.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Challenges and emergencies often lead to innovations and valuable lessons.
In this quote, Victor Hugo emphasizes that progress often arises from difficult situations or crises. He illustrates this by highlighting how challenges such as darkness, fog, hunger, and economic depression have historically led to significant discoveries and a deeper appreciation of work, suggesting that adversity plays a crucial role in human advancement and understanding.
Themes
ProgressEmergenciesChallengesInnovationAdversity
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a motivational speech about how businesses can thrive in challenging times.
More from Victor Hugo
All quotes →When two mouths, made sacred by love, draw near to each other to create, it is impossible, that above that ineffable kiss there should not be a thrill in the immense mystery of the stars.
Victor HugoRead
At that moment of love, a moment when passion is absolutely silent under omnipotence of ecstasy, Marius, pure seraphic Marius, would have been more capable of visiting a woman of the streets than of raising Cosette’s dress above the ankle. Once on a moonlit night, Cosette stopped to pick up something from the ground, her dress loosened and revealed the swelling of her breasts. Marius averted his eyes.
Victor HugoRead
Thought is the work of the intellect, reverie is its self-indulgence. To substitute day-dreaming for thought is to confuse a poison with a source of nourishment.
Victor HugoRead
Taste is the common sense of genius.
Victor HugoRead
Forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.... Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!
Victor HugoRead
Similar quotes
The best thing that can happen to a human being us to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears.
Karl PopperRead
Actions are but lifeless forms whose soul is the secret of sincerity in them
Ibn Ata AllahRead
Be secret and exult, Because of all things known That is most difficult.
William Butler YeatsRead
It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.
Madeleine AlbrightRead
When you have no experience of pain, it is rather hard to experience joy.
George WaldRead
Don't let circumstances distress you. Rather, look for the will of God for your life to be revealed in and through those circumstances.
Billy GrahamRead