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

The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved — loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

The first symptom of love in a young man is timidity in a girl boldness.

Common sense is in spite of, not the result of, education.

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.

Should we continue to look upwards Is the light we can see in the sky one of those which will presently be extinguished The ideal is terrifying to behold, lost as it is in the depths, small, isolated, a pin-point, brilliant but threatened on all sides by the dark forces that surround it nevertheless, no more in danger than a star in the jaws of the clouds. (Les Miserables)

At the shrine of friendship never say die, let the wine of friendship never run dry. (Les Miserables)

A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.

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.

Nothing else in the world…not all the armies…is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, his cloak was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes, - and the stars through his soul.

Forty is the old age of youth fifty is the youth of old age.

There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.

Thought is the labour of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure.

When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age.

Genius is a promontory jutting out of the infinite.

From the oyster to the eagle, from the swine to the tiger, all animals are to be found in men and each of them exists in some man, sometimes several at the time. Animals are nothing but the portrayal of our virtues and vices made manifest to our eyes, the visible reflections of our souls. God displays them to us to give us food for thought.

Separated lovers cheat absence by a thousand fancies which have their own reality. They are prevented from seeing one another and they cannot write nevertheless they find countless mysterious ways of corresponding, by sending each other the song of birds, the scent of flowers, the laughter of children, the light of the sun, the sighing of the wind, and the gleam of the stars-all the beauties of creation.