Do not forget, do not ever forget, that you have promised me to use the money to make yourself an honest man.' Valjean, who did not recall having made any promise, was silent. The bishop had spoken the words slowly and deliberately. He concluded with a solemn emphasis: Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to what is evil but to what is good. I have bought your soul to save it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.

I have been loving you a little more every minute since this morning.

Being good is easy, what is difficult is being just.

M. Myriel had to undergo the fate of every newcomer in a little town, where there are many mouths which talk, and very few heads which think.

Men become accustomed to poison by degrees.

The learned man knows that he is ignorant.

...Though we chisel away as best we can at the mysterious block from which our life is made, the black vein of destiny continually reappears.