Victor Marie Hugo:
(Besançon, 26 February 1802 – Paris, 22 May 1885) was a French writer, poet, essayist and statesman and is considered one of the most important and influential French Romantic authors of the 19th century. He wrote novels, poems, plays, essays and political speeches and also left an extensive correspondence.
Friendship is being brother and sister, two souls touching without fusing, two fingers on one hand.
Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable.
Prayer is an August avowal of ignorance.
– Prayer = turning toward God/the divine/ultimate mystery.
– Avowal = an open admission or confession.
– Ignorance = not stupidity, but human limitation:
‘we do not fully know, understand, or control life’.
– August = majestic, solemn, venerable — ‘not’ the month of August.
In plain English
> ‘Prayer is a noble, solemn admission that human beings do not know everything and must turn beyond themselves.’
It suggests humility:
when we pray, we acknowledge the limits of reason, knowledge, and power.
👤 Author:
The saying is generally attributed to Victor Hugo — the French poet, novelist, and dramatist best known for “Les Misérables” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”.
📚 Origin:
The phrase is usually cited from Hugo’s novel:
> Victor Hugo, “Les Travailleurs de la mer” — “Toilers of the Sea”, 1866
The French form is commonly given as:
> « La prière est l’aveu auguste de l’ignorance. »
A literal translation:
> “Prayer is the august confession/admission of ignorance.”
⚠️ Note on attribution:
– The quote is ‘widely attributed to Victor Hugo’ and appears in English quote collections in that form.
– The English wording may vary slightly because it comes through translation:
– “Prayer is an august avowal of ignorance.”
– “Prayer is the solemn confession of ignorance.”
– “Prayer is the noble admission of ignorance.”
Victor Hugo is the likely and standard attribution, with the source generally identified as “Toilers of the Sea”.
For our mind, thinking is work, but dreaming is relaxation.
The paradise of the rich is made out of the hell of the poor.
The poet must have only one example: nature; only one guide: the truth.
Freedom begins where ignorance ends.
History has its truth, legend has its own.
Anything that increases freedom increases responsibility.
Don´t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. So when they grow up they will known the value of things, not the price.
Whatever causes night in your soul may leave stars.
