“ Of what butterfly is, then, this earthly life the grub? ”
Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs (1869). copy citation
| Author | Victor Hugo |
|---|---|
| Source | The Man Who Laughs |
| Topic | death life metamorphosis |
| Date | 1869 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12587/12587-h/12587-h.htm |
Context
“Shall a man drag himself thus along with such adherence to dust and corruption, with such vicious tastes, such an abdication of right, or such abjectness that one feels inclined to crush him under foot? Of what butterfly is, then, this earthly life the grub?
What! in the crowd which hungers and which denies everywhere, and before all, the questions of crime and shame (the inflexibility of the law producing laxity of conscience), is there no child that grows but to be stunted, no virgin but matures for sin, no rose that blooms but for the slime of the snail?” source
What! in the crowd which hungers and which denies everywhere, and before all, the questions of crime and shame (the inflexibility of the law producing laxity of conscience), is there no child that grows but to be stunted, no virgin but matures for sin, no rose that blooms but for the slime of the snail?” source
Original quote
Meaning and analysis
