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
Ideas can no more flow backward than can a river.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Ideas, like rivers, move forward and cannot revert to a prior state.
Victor Hugo's quote illustrates the idea that thoughts and concepts, once they develop, cannot simply return to their original state, similar to how a river cannot flow upstream. This emphasizes the forward momentum of creativity and the inevitability of progress in both thought and life, suggesting that once we have new insights or ideas, we must continue to explore and build upon them rather than looking back.
Themes
IdeasProgressChangeCreativityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a brainstorming session to encourage forward-thinking.
More from Victor Hugo
All quotes βWhen 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 Cosetteβs 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 challenge today is to convince people of the value of truth, honesty, compassion and a concern for others.
Dalai LamaRead
She was the most wonderful woman for prowling about the house. How she got from one story to another was a mystery beyond solution. A lady so decorous in herself, and so highly connected, was not to be suspected of dropping over the banisters or sliding down them, yet her extraordinary facility of locomotion suggested the wild idea.
Charles DickensRead
The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.
Thomas AquinasRead
But why doesn't the Gospel ever say that Christ laughed?" I asked, for no good reason. "Is Jorge right?" "Legions of scholars have wondered whether Christ laughed. The question doesn't interest me much. I believe he never laughed, because, omniscient as the son of God had to be, he knew how we Christians would behave. . . .
Umberto EcoRead
The choice, however, is as clear now for nations as it was once for the individual: peace or extinction.
Lester B. PearsonRead
There is no heresy or no philosophy which is so abhorrent to the church as a human being.
James JoyceRead