Thursday, February 26, 2015

Victor Hugo: My Hero

When I celebrate my 48th birthday on February 26, I share it with one of my all-time  favorite writers, Victor Hugo. The French-born idealist was birthed in 1802 and went on to pen a number of classics, most famously Les Miserables. I have seen the play eight or nine times over the past 25 or so years, most recently in 2014 on Broadway. With each viewing I am left feeling  I need to go again. Should great writing satiate us or leave us wanting for more?

What I like best about his work, aside from loving every single song, is that it is filled with questions of morality, faith, human spirit, justice, and love. Few books or plays tackle so much, so well -- and remain so relevant a century-and-a-half later.

Below are some of the best lines from his masterpiece. I hope they touch you and make you think as much as they have impacted me:



“Even the darkest night end and the sun will rise.”

“To love another person is to see the face of God.”

“It is nothing to die. It is frightful to live.”

“Not being heard is no reason for silence.”

“If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent, I am damned!”

“A man is not idle he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.”

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”

“He was fond of books, for they are cool and sure friends.”

“Before him he saw two roads, both equally straight; but he did see two; and that terrified him—he who had never in his life known anything but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory.”

"The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.”

“To die for lack of love is horrible. The asphyxia of the soul.”

“Let us study things that are no more. It is necessary to understand them, if only to avoid them.”

“There is always more misery among the lower class then there is humanity in the higher.”

“You can give without loving, but can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. and great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Loved for ourselves. and even loved in spite of ourselves.”

“Let us sacrifice one day to gain perhaps a whole life.”

“What is said about men often has as much influence upon their lives, and especially upon their destinies, as what they do.”

“For there are many great deeds done in the small struggles of life.”

“Faith is necessary to men; woe to him who believes in nothing!”



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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015

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