Victor Hugo

To speak out aloud when alone is as it were to have a dialogue with the divinity which is within.

“Cross of God!” said the hosier, “are you deaf?”

He was, in truth, deaf.

"The least possible sin is the law of man. No sin at all is the dream of the angel. All which is terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation."

"Promise me!"

"I promise."

"Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead.—I shall feel it."

"And by the way, Monsieur Marius, I believe that I was a little bit in love with you."

The passers-by, who have their own way of appreciating clever people, used to say: He is an idiot.

Les femmes regardaient Booz plus qu'un jeune homme.

Car le jeune homme est beau, mais le vieillard est grand.

Le vieillard, qui revient vers la source première,

Entre aux jours éternels et sort des jours changeants;

Et l'on voit de la flamme aux yeux des jeunes gens,

Mais dans l'oeil du vieillard on voit de la lumière.

'Voilà longtemps que celle avec qui j'ai dormi,

O Seigneur! a quitté ma couche pour la vôtre;

Et nous sommes encor tout mêlés l'un à l'autre,

Elle à demi vivante et moi mort à demi.

and above all, of the expression spread over the whole; of that mixture of malice, amazement, and sadness. Let the reader dream of this whole, if he can.

This holy woman regarded Monseigneur of D—— as at one and the same time her brother and her bishop, her friend according to the flesh and her superior according to the Church. She simply loved and venerated him. When he spoke, she bowed; when he acted, she yielded her adherence.