The sewer is the conscience of the city.

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

There is no such thing as a little country. The greatness of a people is no more determined by their numbers than the greatness of a man is by his height.

It has become necessary to call the attention of European governments to a fact which is apparently so insignificant that the governments seem not to notice it. The fact is this: an entire people is being annihilated. Where? In Europe. Are there witnesses? One witness, the entire world. Do the governments see it? No.

Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive.

Dry happiness is like dry bread. We eat, but we do not dine. I wish for the superfluous, for the useless, for the extravagant, for the too much, for that which is not good for anything.

Success is an ugly thing. Men are deceived by its false resemblances to merit.... They confound the brilliance of the firmament with the star-shaped footprints of a duck in the mud.