There comes an hour when protest no longer suffices; after philosophy there must be action; the strong hand finishes what the idea has sketched.

Close by the Rights of Man, at the least set beside them, are the Rights of the Spirit.

Years place at last a venerable crown upon a head.

We are not loved by our friends for what we are; rather, we are loved in spite of what we are.

A benevolent malefactor, merciful, gentle, helpful, clement, a convict, returning good for evil, giving back pardon for hatred, preferring pity to vengeance, preferring to ruin himself rather than to ruin his enemy, saving him who had smitten him, kneeling on the heights of virtue, more nearly akin to an angel than to a man. Javert was constrained to admit to himself that this monster existed. Things could not go on in this manner.

Dear God! how beauty varies in nature and art. In a woman the flesh must be like marble; in a statue the marble must be like flesh.

Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it.