One of the hardest labours of the just man is to expunge from his soul a malevolence which it is difficult to efface.

To destroy abuses is not enough; Habits must also be changed. The windmill has gone, but the wind is still there." ~old man G--- to Monseigneur Bienvenu Myriel

With a tiny bit of effort, the nettle would be useful; if you neglect it, it becomes a pest. So then we kill it. How many men are like nettles My friends, there is no such thing as a weed and no such thing as a bad man. There are only bad cultivators.

Yes, instruction! Light! Light! Everything comes from light, and to everything it returns.

Loving is almost a substitute for thinking. Love is a burning forgetfulness of all other things. How shall we ask passion to be logical?

Nature has made a pebble and a female. The lapidary makes the diamond, and the lover makes the woman.

All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.