This conflict between right and fact has endured since the origins of society. To bring the duel to an end, to consolidate the pure ideal with the human reality, to make the right peacefully interpenetrate the fact, and the fact the right, this is the work of the wise.

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.

Conscience is God present in man.

Creation lives, grows, and multiplies; man is but a witness.

Ah," cried Gavroche, "what does this mean? It rains again! ...If this continues, I withdraw my subscription.

In the animal world no creature born to be a dove turns into a scavenger. This happens only among men.

Beauty is as useful as the useful. More so, perhaps. (Le beau est aussi utile que l'utile. Plus peut-etre.)