“ One may be more than man and less than man. There is incomplete immensity in nature. ”
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862). copy citation
| Author | Victor Hugo |
|---|---|
| Source | Les Misérables |
| Topic | immensity |
| Date | 1862 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translation by Isabel F. Hapgood in 1887 |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/135/135-h/135-h.htm |
Context
“They are to be admired and pitied, as one would both pity and admire a being at once night and day, without eyes beneath his lashes but with a star on his brow.
The indifference of these thinkers, is, according to some, a superior philosophy. That may be; but in this superiority there is some infirmity. One may be immortal and yet limp: witness Vulcan. One may be more than man and less than man. There is incomplete immensity in nature. Who knows whether the sun is not a blind man?
But then, what? In whom can we trust? Solem quis dicere falsum audeat? Who shall dare to say that the sun is false? Thus certain geniuses, themselves, certain Very-Lofty mortals, man-stars, may be mistaken?”
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