"To rescue from oblivion even a fragment..." - Quote by Victor Hugo
To rescue from oblivion even a fragment of a language which men have used and which is in danger of being lost -that is to say, one of the elements, whether good or bad, which have shaped and complicated civilization -is to extend the scope of social observation and to serve civilization.
More by Victor Hugo
“While contemplating the bride, and eyeing the cake of soap, he muttered between his teeth: 'Tuesday. It was not Tuesday. Was it Tuesday? Perhaps it was Tuesday. Yes, it was Tuesday.' No one has ever discovered to what this monologue referred. Yes, perchance, this monologue had some connection with the last occasion on which he had dined, three days before, for it was now Friday.”
“"Animals are happy," said the queen. "They run no risk of going to hell." "They are there already," replied Josiana.”
“What makes night within us may leave stars.”
More on Language
“What's another word for Thesaurus?”
“We infer the spirit of the nation in great measure from the language, which is a sort of monument, to which each forcible individual in a course of many hundred years has contributed a stone.”
“Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a racing car not called a racist?”
More on Preservation
“In the next few years the struggle will not be between utopia and reality, but between different utopias, each trying to impose itself on reality ... we can no longer hope to save everything, but ... we can at least try to save lives, so that some kind of future, if perhaps not the ideal one, will remain possible.”
“It is just as important to make knowledge live and keep it alive as to solve specific problems.”
“Hold those things that tell your history and protect them. During slavery, who was able to read or write or keep anything? The ability to have somebody to tell your story to is so important. It says: 'I was here. I may be sold tomorrow. But you know I was here.'”