“ Oh, how hollow does science sound when one in despair dashes against it a head full of passions! ”
Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). copy citation
| Author | Victor Hugo |
|---|---|
| Source | The Hunchback of Notre-Dame |
| Topic | science passion |
| 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
“I drew myself up; I fled; but alas! something within me had fallen never to rise again, something had come upon me from which I could not flee. ”
“ Yes, dating from that day, there was within me a man whom I did not know. I tried to make use of all my remedies. The cloister, the altar, work, books,—follies! Oh, how hollow does science sound when one in despair dashes against it a head full of passions! Do you know, young girl, what I saw thenceforth between my book and me? You, your shade, the image of the luminous apparition which had one day crossed the space before me. But this image had no longer the same color; it was sombre, funereal, gloomy as the black circle which long pursues the vision of the imprudent man who has gazed intently at the sun.
” source
“ Yes, dating from that day, there was within me a man whom I did not know. I tried to make use of all my remedies. The cloister, the altar, work, books,—follies! Oh, how hollow does science sound when one in despair dashes against it a head full of passions! Do you know, young girl, what I saw thenceforth between my book and me? You, your shade, the image of the luminous apparition which had one day crossed the space before me. But this image had no longer the same color; it was sombre, funereal, gloomy as the black circle which long pursues the vision of the imprudent man who has gazed intently at the sun.
” source
