One cannot be a good historian of the outward, visible world without giving some thought to the hidden, private life of ordinary people; and on the other hand one cannot be a good historian of this inner life without taking into account outward events where these are relevant. They are two orders of fact which reflect each other, which are always linked and which sometimes provoke each other.

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Related Quotes

In the French language, there is a great gulf between prose and poetry; in English, there is hardly any difference. It is a splendid privilege of the great literary languages Greek, Latin, and French that they possess a prose. English has not this privilege. There is no prose in English.

— Victor Hugo

AnyBetweenDifference

The omnipotence of evil has never resulted in anything but fruitless efforts. Our thoughts always escape from whoever tries to smother them.

— Victor Hugo

AlwaysAnythingEfforts

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

— Victor Hugo

Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery.

— Victor Hugo

BraveryCuriosityFeminine

Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.

— Victor Hugo