Beautiful Quotes from Les Misérables

"Love has no middle ground; it either destroys or saves."

"Here lies a man who had a most strange destiny."

"Poverty in youth, if it leads to success, both drives human will to strive and elevates the soul. The leap toward an ideal life begins here. The rich youth has countless pleasures; but the poor youth endures hardship to earn bread. Once he eats, he dreams. He sets aside selfishness and loves people. Hatred leaves his heart, and light returns to his spirit. Is such a person miserable? No, never. This was what happened to Marius."

"Whoever has known love understands the radiant meaning of the word 'she'."

"True philosophers always experience deep emotions."

"'It is nothing. You have become Madame Pontmercy, and I have become Monsieur Jean.' — 'Perhaps because I am happy you oppose me?' This simple question from Cosette struck Jean Valjean deeply. He turned pale, paused, and whispered: 'The purpose of my life was her happiness. Today the time has come to leave her life. Cosette, you are happy; my duty is finished.'"

"A sad story: at eight years old, Cosette’s heart had grown cold toward everything. But it was not her fault."

"There is nothing else in the world but to love."

"This couple were among those coarse and cunning people of the lower classes who knew nothing of honor or decency. In the woman’s nature lay savagery, and in the man’s, beggary. In the world there are crab-like people who constantly move toward darkness, who regress instead of advancing, becoming worse each day, sinking deeper into ugliness."

"In romantic novels, the act of looking has been so misused that its value is lost. Today it is hard to say two people loved each other because they saw each other. Yet love begins this way, only and always this way. Everything else comes after the 'look.'"

"The mouse caught in the trap was very thin, but the cat delights even in a lean mouse."

"The day his grandfather cast him out, he was still a child. But now he had become a man, and he felt it. In truth, poverty had worked to his advantage… (the same reflection on Marius, poverty, and the return of hope to the soul)."

"Some people cannot love on one side without hating on the other."