{"quotes":[{"text":"When Victor Hugo was buried, you couldn’t find a whore in all of Paris. They were too busy paying their respects. That was a man – and he still has a show on in the West End.","author":"Hanif Kureishi","tags":["paris","victor-hugo","west-end","whore"],"id":22846,"author_id":"Hanif+Kureishi"},{"text":"Hardly had the light been extinguished, when a peculiar trembling beganto affect the netting under which the three children lay.It consisted of a multitude of dull scratches which produced a metallicsound, as if claws and teeth were gnawing at the copper wire. This wasaccompanied by all sorts of little piercing cries.The little five-year-old boy, on hearing this hubbub overhead, andchilled with terror, jogged his brother's elbow; but the elder brotherhad already shut his peepers, as Gavroche had ordered. Then the littleone, who could no longer control his terror, questioned Gavroche, but ina very low tone, and with bated breath:--'Sir?'Hey?' said Gavroche, who had just closed his eyes.'What is that?'It's the rats,' replied Gavroche.And he laid his head down on the mat again.The rats, in fact, who swarmed by thousands in the carcass of theelephant, and who were the living black spots which we have alreadymentioned, had been held in awe by the flame of the candle, so long asit had been lighted; but as soon as the cavern, which was the sameas their city, had returned to darkness, scenting what the goodstory-teller Perrault calls 'fresh meat,' they had hurled themselves inthrongs on Gavroche's tent, had climbed to the top of it, and had begunto bite the meshes as though seeking to pierce this new-fangled trap.Still the little one could not sleep.'Sir?' he began again.'Hey?' said Gavroche.'What are rats?'They are mice.'This explanation reassured the child a little. He had seen white mice inthe course of his life, and he was not afraid of them. Nevertheless, helifted up his voice once more.'Sir?'Hey?' said Gavroche again.'Why don't you have a cat?'I did have one,' replied Gavroche, 'I brought one here, but they ateher.'This second explanation undid the work of the first, and the littlefellow began to tremble again.The dialogue between him and Gavroche began again for the fourth time:--'Monsieur?'Hey?'Who was it that was eaten?'The cat.'And who ate the cat?'The rats.'The mice?'Yes, the rats.'The child, in consternation, dismayed at the thought of mice which atecats, pursued:--'Sir, would those mice eat us?'Wouldn't they just!' ejaculated Gavroche.The child's terror had reached its climax. But Gavroche added:--'Don't be afraid. They can't get in. And besides, I'm here! Here, catchhold of my hand. Hold your tongue and shut your peepers!","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["children","gavroche","horror","humor","les-mis","les-miserables","rats","victor-hugo"],"id":40118,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"To commit the least possible sin is the law for man. To live without sin is the dream of an angel. Everything terrestrial is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitation.","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["angels","les-miserables","sin","victor-hugo"],"id":69621,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"The judge speaks in the name of justice,' he said. 'The priest speaks in the name of pity, which is only a higher form of justice.' (Bishop Myriel).","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["compassion","justice","priesthood","victor-hugo"],"id":96669,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"The merciful precepts of Christ will at last suffuse the Code and it will glow with their radiance. Crime will be considered an illness with its own doctors to replace your judges and its hospitals to replace your prisons. Liberty shall be equated with health. Ointments and oil shall be applied to limbs that were once shackled and branded. Infirmities that once were scourged with anger shall now be bathed with love. The cross in place of the gallows: sublime and yet so simple.","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["christ","crime","cross","gallows","hospitals","illness","judges","love","prisons","the-last-day-of-a-condemned-man","victor-hugo"],"id":161883,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;—in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862. [Translation by Isabel F. Hapgood].","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["inspirational","les-misérables","political","poverty","society","victor-hugo"],"id":248488,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"Usually, the murmur that rises up from Paris by day is the city talking; in the night it is the city breathing; but here it is the city singing. Listen, then, to this chorus of bell-towers - diffuse over the whole the murmur of half a million people - the eternal lament of the river - the endless sighing of the wind - the grave and distant quartet of the four forests placed upon the hills, in the distance, like immense organpipes - extinguish to a half light all in the central chime that would otherwise be too harsh or too shrill; and then say whetehr you know of anything in the world more rich, more joyous, more golden, more dazzling, than this tumult of bells and chimes - this furnace of music - these thousands of brazen voices, all singing together in flutes of stone three hundred feet high, than this city which is but one orchestra - this symphony which roars like a tempest.","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["beautiful","hunchback-of-notre-dame","music","orchestra","paris","romantic","romanticism","symphony","the-hunchback-of-notre-dame","victor-hugo"],"id":255233,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"He was fine; he, that orphan that foundling that outcast; he felt himself august and strong; he looked full in the face that society from which he was banished, and into which he had so powerfully intervened; that human justice from which he had snatched its prey; all those tigers whose jaws perforce remained empty; those myrmidons, those judges, those executioners, all that royal power which he, poor, insignificant being, had foiled with the power of God.","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["beautiful","hunchback-of-notre-dame","notre-dame","paris","the-hunchback-of-notre-dame","victor-hugo"],"id":257324,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"Let no one misunderstand our idea; we do not confound what are called 'political opinions' with that grand aspiration after progress with that sublime patriotic, democratic, and human faith, which, in our days, should be the very foundation of all generous intelligence.","author":"Victor Hugo","tags":["intelligence","les-miserables","politics","victor-hugo"],"id":281246,"author_id":"Victor+Hugo"},{"text":"There was no justice in rebellion. This Javert had come to believe after seeing Marseille fall headfirst into the abyss of the revolution.","author":"Kelsey Brickl","tags":["abyss","france","javert","justice","les-miserables","marseille","rebellion","revolution","revolutionary","victor-hugo"],"id":308702,"author_id":"Kelsey+Brickl"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":16,"pages":2,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}