The sewer is the conscience of the city. Everything there converges and confronts everything else.
fromLes MisérablesbyVictor HugoIf you wish to gain an idea of what revolution is, call it Progress; and if you wish to acquire an idea of the nature of progress, call it To-morrow.
fromLes MisérablesbyVictor HugoI have studied men’s vices in order to defend myself against them; and I have found that, like serpents, they fly the light.
fromThe Count of Monte CristobyAlexandre DumasGod has supplied man with the intelligence that enables him to overcome the limitations of natural conditions. I furnished myself with a light.
fromThe Count of Monte CristobyAlexandre DumasHe suddenly recalled Sonia’s words, ‘Go to the cross-roads, bow down to the people, kiss the earth… and say aloud to the whole world, I am a murderer.’ … It came over him like a fit… He fell to the earth on the spot…. He knelt down… and kissed that filthy earth with bliss and rapture.
fromCrime and PunishmentbyFyodor DostoevskyI did not bow down to you, I bowed down to all the suffering of humanity.
fromCrime and PunishmentbyFyodor DostoevskyI am perfectly happy now… It is the divinest thing in us. Don’t sneer at it, Harry… I want to be good. I can’t bear the idea of my soul being hideous.
fromThe Picture of Dorian GraybyOscar WildeThis portrait would be to him the most magical of mirrors… it would reveal to him his own soul.
fromThe Picture of Dorian GraybyOscar Wilde