It is the essence of truth that it is never excessive. Why should it exaggerate? There is that which should be destroyed and that which should be simply illuminated and studied. How great is the force of benevolent and searching examination! We must not resort to the flame where only light is required.

...there is a point when the unfortunate and the infamous are associated and confused in a word, a mortal word, les miserables

God has bestowed two gifts on man: hope and ignorance. Ignorance is the better of the two.

My tastes are aristocratic, my actions democratic.

I like the laughter that opens the lips and the heart, shows at the same time the pearls and the soul.

Do you hear the people sing Lost in the valley of the night? It is the music of a people Who are climbing to the light. For the wretched of the earth There is a flame that never dies. Even the darkest night will end And the sun will rise.

Nothing discernible to the eye of the spirit is more brilliant or obscure than man; nothing is more formidable, complex, mysterious, and infinite. There is a prospect greater than the sea, and it is the sky; there is a prospect greater than the sky, and it is the human soul.