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
A society that admits misery, a humanity that admits war, seem to me an inferior society and a debased humanity; it is a higher society and a more elevated humanity at which I am aiming - a society without kings, a humanity without barriers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the need for societal improvement beyond war and misery, aspiring for equality and freedom.
Victor Hugo expresses a vision for a better society that transcends the pain of war and the misery it brings. He critiques current societal structures that allow suffering and advocates for a world without hierarchical divides, aiming instead for an egalitarian existence where humanity is united and free from oppressive barriers.
Themes
SocietyMiseryWarEqualityHumanityBarriersImprovementFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social justice, one could use this quote to highlight the need for reform.
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
Money's a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.
Henry JamesRead
So different are the colors of life, as we look forward to the future, or backward to the past; and so different the opinions and sentiments which this contrariety of appearance naturally produces, that the conversation of the old and young ends generally with contempt or pity on either side.
Samuel JohnsonRead
The sun also shines on the wicked.
Seneca The ElderRead
Any hack can safely rail away at foreign powers beyond the sea; but a good writer is a critic of the society he lives in.
Edward AbbeyRead
It is the nature of men having escaped one extreme, which by force they were constrained long to endure, to run headlong into the other extreme, forgetting that virtue doth always consist in the mean.
Walter RaleighRead
A battering ram can knock down a city wall, but it cannot stop a hole. Different things have different uses.
ZhuangziRead