All civilization begins in theocracy and ends in democracy.
 Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). copy citation

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Author Victor Hugo
Source The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Topic democracy civilization
Date 1831
Language English
Reference
Note Translation by Isabel F. Hapgood in 1888
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2610/2610-h/2610-h.htm

Context

“Thus, during the first six thousand years of the world, from the most immemorial pagoda of Hindustan, to the cathedral of Cologne, architecture was the great handwriting of the human race. And this is so true, that not only every religious symbol, but every human thought, has its page and its monument in that immense book. All civilization begins in theocracy and ends in democracy. This law of liberty following unity is written in architecture. For, let us insist upon this point, masonry must not be thought to be powerful only in erecting the temple and in expressing the myth and sacerdotal symbolism;” source