“ It is very fortunate that kings cannot err. Hence their contradictions never perplex us. ”
Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs (1869). copy citation
| Author | Victor Hugo |
|---|---|
| Source | The Man Who Laughs |
| Topic | power contradiction errors |
| Date | 1869 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12587/12587-h/12587-h.htm |
Context
“These fashions have passed away; but not so much, perhaps, as one might imagine. Nowadays, courtiers slightly modify their intonation in clucking to please their masters. More than one picks up from the ground—we will not say from the mud—what he eats.
It is very fortunate that kings cannot err. Hence their contradictions never perplex us. In approving always, one is sure to be always right—which is pleasant. Louis XIV. would not have liked to see at Versailles either an officer acting the cock, or a prince acting the turkey. That which raised the royal and imperial dignity in England and Russia would have seemed to Louis the Great incompatible with the crown of St.” source
It is very fortunate that kings cannot err. Hence their contradictions never perplex us. In approving always, one is sure to be always right—which is pleasant. Louis XIV. would not have liked to see at Versailles either an officer acting the cock, or a prince acting the turkey. That which raised the royal and imperial dignity in England and Russia would have seemed to Louis the Great incompatible with the crown of St.” source
Meaning and analysis
