Portrait of Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Les Miserables

Modern influential 78 sayings

Sayings by Victor Hugo

Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 7, Chapter 3
General Unverifiable

To forget is to sleep.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 5, Chapter 4
Life & Aging Unverifiable

A good laugh is a mighty good thing, a rather too scarce a good thing.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume III, Book 2, Chapter 1
General Unverifiable

The human soul has greater need of the ideal than of the real. It is by the real that we exist; it is by the ideal that we live.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume V, Book 1, Chapter 5
Food & Drink Unverifiable

The healthy stomach is a good cook.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 2, Chapter 3
Food & Drink Unverifiable

No army can stop an idea whose time has come.

1877 — Histoire d'un crime
General Unverifiable

The word 'love' is not a verb.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume IV, Book 1, Chapter 1
Relationships Unverifiable

The greatest truths are the simplest, and so are the greatest men.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 2, Chapter 3
Food & Drink Unverifiable

There are no such things as small countries. The greatness of a people is no more determined by the number of its inhabitants than the greatness of a man is determined by his height.

1878 — Speech at the International Literary Congress
Food & Drink Unverifiable

When a man knows how to love, he knows how to live.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume IV, Book 1, Chapter 1
Relationships Unverifiable

The soul's darkest night is not the one before death, but the one before birth.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 7, Chapter 3
Food & Drink Unverifiable

What makes night within us may leave stars.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 7, Chapter 3
General Unverifiable

The more you are in love, the more you are in danger.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume IV, Book 6, Chapter 1
Relationships Unverifiable

The intelligent man finds everything absurd.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume I, Book 7, Chapter 3
General Unverifiable

The greatest strength is gentleness.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume III, Book 2, Chapter 1
Food & Drink Unverifiable

If I am to die, I will die laughing.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume III, Book 2, Chapter 1
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

The most beautiful of all things is a beautiful woman with a beautiful mind.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume IV, Book 1, Chapter 1
General Unverifiable

Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being.

1862 — Les Misérables, Volume IV, Book 6, Chapter 1
Relationships Unverifiable
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