“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable..“
“Nothing makes a man so adventurous as an empty pocket..“
“I wanted to see you again, touch you, know who you were, see if I would find you identical with the ideal image of you which had remained with me and perhaps shatter my dream with the aid of reality..“
“When you get an idea into your head you find it in everything..“
“Do you know what friendship is?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ replied the gypsy; ‘it is to be brother and sister; two souls which touch without mingling, two fingers on one hand.’
‘And love?’ pursued Gringoire.
‘Oh! love!’ said she, and her voice trembled, and her eye beamed. ‘That is to be two and to be but one. A man and a woman mingled into one angel. It is heaven..“
“Spira, spera.
(breathe, hope).“
“…mothers are often fondest of the child which has caused them the greatest pain..“
“A one-eyed man is much more incomplete than a blind man, for he knows what it is that’s lacking..“
“He reached for his pocket, and found there, only reality.“
“Dost thou understand? I love thee!” he cried again.”What love!” said the unhappy girl with a shudder.He resumed,–“The love of a damned soul..“
“One drop of wine is enough to redden a whole glass of water..“
“He left her. She was dissatisfied with him. He had preferred to incur her anger rather than cause her pain. He had kept all the pain for himself..“
“You would have imagined her at one moment a maniac, at another a queen..“
“He therefore turned to mankind only with regret. His cathedral was enough for him. It was peopled with marble figures of kings, saints and bishops who at least did not laugh in his face and looked at him with only tranquillity and benevolence. The other statues, those of monsters and demons, had no hatred for him – he resembled them too closely for that. It was rather the rest of mankind that they jeered at. The saints were his friends and blessed him; the monsters were his friends and kept watch over him. He would sometimes spend whole hours crouched before one of the statues in solitary conversation with it. If anyone came upon him then he would run away like a lover surprised during a serenade..“
“Love is like a tree: it shoots of itself; it strikes it’s roots deeply into our whole being, and frequently continues to put forth green leaves over a heart in ruins. And there is this unaccountable circumstance attending it, that the blinder the passion the more tenacious it is. Never is it stronger than when it is most unreasonable..“
“The saints were his friends, and blessed him; the monsters were his friends, and guarded him..“
“His judgement demonstrates that one can be a genius and understand nothing of an art that is not one’s own..“
“To a gargoyle on the ramparts of Notre Dame as Esmeralda rides off with Gringoire Quasimodo says. “Why was I not made of stone like thee?.“
“If he had had all Peru in his pocket, he would certainly have given it to this dancer; but Gringoire had not Peru in his pocket; and besides, America was not yet discovered..“
“At the moment when her eyes closed, when all feeling vanished in her, she thought that she felt a touch of fire imprinted on her lips, a kiss more burning than the red-hot iron of the executioner..“
“The owl goes not into the nest of the lark..“
“But alas, if I have not maintained my victory, it is God’s fault for not making man and the devil of equal strength..“
“Large, heavy, ragged black clouds hung like crape hammocks beneath the starry cope of the night. You would have said that they were the cobwebs of the firmament..“
“My misfortune is that I still resemble a man too much. I should liked to be wholly a beast like that goat. – Quasimodo.“
“For love is like a tree; it grows of itself; it send its roots deep into our being, and often continues to grow green over a heart in ruins..“
“He had, they said, tasted in succession all the apples of the tree of knowledge, and, whether from hunger or disgust, had ended by tasting the forbidden fruit..“
“This will destroy that. The book will kill the edifice..“
“Unable to rid myself of it, since I heard your song humming ever in my head, beheld your feet dancing always on my breviary, felt even at night, in my dreams, your form in contact with my own, I desired to see you again, to touch you, to know who you were, to see whether I should really find you like the ideal image which I had retained of you, to shatter my dream, perchance with reality. At all events, I hoped that a new impression would efface the first, and the first had become insupportable. I sought you. I saw you once more. Calamity! When I had seen you twice, I wanted to see you a thousand times, I wanted to see you always. Then – how stop myself on that slope of hell? – then I no longer belonged to myself..“
“I’d rather be the head of a fly than the tail of a lion..“
“You asked me why I saved you. You have forgotten a villain who tried to carry you off one night,- a villain to whom the very next day you brought relief upon their infamous pillory. A drop of water and a little pity are more than my whole life can ever repay. You have forgotten that villain; but he remembers..“
“He found that man needs affection, that life without a warming love is but a dry wheel, creaking and grating as it turns..“
“Dost thou understand? I love thee!” he cried again. “What love!” said the unhappy girl with a shudder. He resumed,–“The love of a damned soul..“
“When a man does wrong, he should do all the wrong he can; it is madness to stop half-way in crime!.“
“Phoebus de Chateaupers likewise came to a ‘tragic end’: he married..“
“There are moments when the hands of a woman possess super human force..“
“I bear the dungeon within me; within me is winter, ice, and despair; I have darkness in my soul..“
“For dogs we kings should have lions, and for cats, tigers. The great benefits a crown..“
“Excess of grief, like excess of joy is a violent thing which lasts but a short time. The heart of man cannot remain long in one extremity..“