I am a soul. I know well that what I shall render up to the grave is not myself. That which is myself will go elsewhere. Earth, thou art not my abyss! – Victor Hugo
A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor – Victor Hugo
Sorrow is a fruit. God does not make it grow on limbs too weak to bear it. – Victor Hugo
A saint addicted to excessive self-abnegation is a dangerous associate; he may infect you with poverty, and a stiffening of those joints which are needed for advancement — in a word, with more renunciation than you care for — and so you flee the contagion. – Victor Hugo