I think I’ve already mentioned that lately I’m on a classic reading vibe. You may wonder why. Well, seeing what is going on around the world, I concluded, let me put it this way: We humans still have a lot to learn. For that reason, I believe this kind of literature still has so much to teach us about the many matters of life.

Currently, I’m reading Les Misérables, and I’m already into 299 pages. What can I say so far? It’s not easy to read as The Count of Monte Cristo was. It needs, let’s say, more attention, as a lot of French cultural background flows into the story. For example, the names of villages, the French nobles. Yesterday I read the Waterloo chapter, which means many names of generals and armies from everyone who was involved in this battle. And, of course, the way society was constituted, the legal order of that time, also rolls into the plot. Remember, the story begins its storytelling in 1815. And as I mentioned, society and legal order, as I filtered out, at this point of my reading, the main theme of this societal justice.

Here, I want to underline that we live in 2026; the story is set in 1815. As for all I can say, nothing has changed when it comes to societal justice. Don’t get me wrong, that I think everything is terrible now, no, that’s not what I mean, there are norms and justice, basic ones. But I kind of sense that our society is slowly slipping back into these dark ages, rather than progressing. We have a technological boom and advancement, but not in human rights and justice. Let’s say it’s still the big fish who are surviving no matter what.

To keep it short, I actually only wanted to share some interesting quotes from this book, since I think they are thought-provoking, and everything that provokes us to raise our thinking can only be to our advantage.

I name this blog entry “Les Misérables Quotes part 1”, as I’m sure I’m going to share many more from this book. I still have 1,005 pages to read.

Here are some excerpts:  

To be a saint is the exception. To be a good man is the rule. Err, weaken and sin, but be among the good.

To sin as little as possible, that is the law of mankind. Not to sin at all is the angel’s dream. Everything earthly is subject to sin. Sin is a gravitational force.

~Monseigneur Bienvenu, Les Misérables, Victor Hugo.

Teach those who are ignorant as much as you can. Society is to blame for not giving free education. It’s responsible for the darkness it produces. In any benighted soul – that’s where sin will be committed. It’s not he who commits the sin that’s to blame but he who causes the darkness to prevail.

~Monseigneur Bienvenu, Les Misérables, Victor Hugo.