A tempest ceases, a cyclone passes over, a wind dies down, a broken mast can be replaced, a leak can be stopped, a fire extinguished, but what will become of this enormous brute of bronze?

Marius was of the temperament that sinks into grief and remains there; Cosette was of the sort that plunges in and comes out again.

Love is a fault; so be it.

...But listen, there will be more joy in heaven over the tears of a repentant sinner than over the white robes of a hundred just men.

You preserve your shame but you kill your glory.

As we have explained, in first love the soul is taken long before the body; later the body is taken long before the soul; sometimes the soul is not taken at all.

Reason is intelligence taking exercise. Imagination is intelligence with an erection.