The life of the cenobite is a human problem. When we speak of convents, those seats of error but innocence, of mistaken views but good intentions, of ignorance but devotion, of torment but martyrdom, we must nearly always say yes or no...The monastery is a renunciation. Self-sacrifice, even when misdirected, is still self-sacrifice. To assume as duty a strict error has its peculiar grandeur.
("Les Miserables")
More Quotes from Victor Hugo:
When a man is out of sight, it is not too long before he is out of mind.Victor Hugo
Nothing discernible to the eye of the spirit is more brilliant or obscure than man; nothing is more formidable, complex, mysterious, and infinite. There is a prospect greater than the sea, and it is the sky; there is a prospect greater than the sky, and it is the human soul.
Victor Hugo
He had not lived long enough to have discovered that nothing is more close at hand than the impossible, and what must be looked for is the unforeseen.
Victor Hugo
The reflection of a fact is in itself a fact.
Victor Hugo
One can no more keep the mind from returning to an idea than the sea from returning to a shore. For a sailor, this is called the tide; in the case of the guilty it is called remorse. God stirs up the soul as well as the ocean.
Victor Hugo
By putting forward the hands of the clock you shall not advance the hour.
Victor Hugo
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Based on Topics: Error & Mistake Quotes, Ignorance Quotes, Innocence Quotes, Intention Quotes, Life Quotes, Speaking QuotesBased on Keywords: cenobite, convents, misdirected
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