517 things from this book went into her brain. Here are the first 6.
Victor Hugo argued that a book about injustice stays useful for as long as poverty, ignorance and hunger remain unsolved in the world.
Victor Hugo notes that what people say about a man, true or false, can shape his life and destiny as much as what he actually does.
In Les Miserables, Hugo has Bishop Myriel answer Napoleon with the thought that a good man and a great man can each learn from the other. Respect runs both ways.
In Les Miserables, Bishop Myriel gives up his own palace so that thirty-six sick people have room. Hugo shows kindness that is practical and asks for no credit.
In Les Miserables, Hugo shows Bishop Myriel deciding in advance, once and for all, where every part of his income will go, and then keeping to that plan.
Hugo says there is always more hardship below than brotherhood above, so Bishop Myriel gave his money away almost as soon as it came in. Generosity that is planned tends to last.
In Les Miserables, the poor of the district choose the name Welcome for their bishop from the part of his name that meant most to them. Kindness is often named by the people it helps.
When a mayor sneers at Bishop Myriel for riding a donkey, he says he does it from necessity, not vanity. Plain honesty answers a sneer best.
Hugo shows Myriel teaching by pointing to communities that care for their poor and sick, rather than preaching in the abstract. A good example persuades.
Hugo says Myriel taught through parables and vivid images rather than long argument, and was persuasive because he was convinced himself.
Hugo shows Myriel answering a rich man's show of charity with a joke that hides a serious point. Giving a little for appearances is not the same as generosity.
In a sermon, Myriel asks his listeners to look at the suffering around them, from cramped housing to hunger, and to have pity. Seeing clearly is the first step to caring.
Bishop Myriel tells people to examine the road a fault has travelled before they condemn it, and to aim to be upright rather than perfect.
Hugo has Myriel argue that society is responsible for the ignorance it allows, so the guilty party is often the one who let the shadow form.
Hugo shows Myriel questioning a prosecutor who tricked a woman into betraying her lover. Being clever at winning is not the same as being just, and someone must answer for the trick.
Hugo shows Myriel staying all day with a condemned man, giving him truth and comfort when everyone else had stepped away. Showing up for someone at their lowest is a real choice.
After an execution, Hugo shows Bishop Myriel asking by what right people take a life. Compassion can lead a person to question what the law allows.
Myriel comforts the bereaved by turning grief from the grave towards hope, so sorrow is made larger and more dignified rather than erased. Knowing when to be silent matters as much as knowing when to speak.
Hugo has Myriel give his charity first to the needy, sick and afflicted, then spend his remaining time working. He called all his work gardening: the mind is a garden to be tended.
In Les Miserables, Myriel writes in a margin that Solomon calls God Compassion, the most beautiful of all his names. For Hugo's bishop, kindness is the highest way to know the divine.
Bishop Myriel gave to the poor the money friends raised for a new altar, saying the finest altar is a troubled soul that has been comforted. Put value where it does real good.
Myriel allowed himself one luxury, cleanliness, because it took nothing from the poor. Choose comforts that do not come at someone else's expense.
Myriel tells his housekeeper that the beautiful is as useful as the useful, and perhaps more so. Hugo's bishop respects the learned and the unlearned alike, and the ignorant most of all.
Myriel wrote that a person who is embarrassed by his name is often the one who most needs shelter, so do not ask him for it first. His door was never locked.
Myriel says there is a bravery of the priest as well as the bravery of a soldier, but the priest's should be a calm courage.
Myriel says he is not in the world to guard his own life but to guard souls. Purpose should come before self-protection, though he also judges fear carefully.
Myriel tells his sister that outside dangers are small, and that prejudices are the real robbers and vices the real murderers. The greatest dangers lie within ourselves.
Hugo has Myriel point out that a philosophy saying nothing matters can conveniently excuse taking whatever one wants. Test your beliefs by what they allow you to do.
In Les Miserables, Baptistine's letter describes a household that shares what it has with the sick and needy and finds joy in that, even when money is tight.
Baptistine learns to stop fighting her brother's courage and to pray and trust instead. Fear eases when you rest on something larger than yourself.
Hugo observes that the people who love a man best learn his nature rather than just his words, and sometimes step back to let him be who he is. Good loyalty understands.
Bishop Myriel sees a lonely man everyone avoids and says he owes him a visit, even though he feels a pull of reluctance. Duty can come before comfort, and sheep scabs do not make a shepherd recoil.
Hugo admits that even a kind bishop feels a petty flash of pride at being addressed as citizen. Being honest about our own small contradictions makes us more trustworthy.
In Les Miserables, the old conventionary calls ignorance the real tyrant. Learning frees people from the tyrannies that grow in the dark.
In Les Miserables, the old conventionary says that tearing down abuses is not enough, because the customs behind them must change too. Pulling out the old system is only half the job.
Hugo has the old man insist that pity be even-handed, weeping for the children of the powerful and the children of the people alike. Fairness means not picking favourites in who deserves sympathy.
Hugo shows the conventionary apologising for using his own advantages to win an argument. Not using your power to beat someone in debate is good taste and good character.
Hugo's dying old man says he did his duty as far as his powers allowed, was hated for it, and carried that isolation without hating anyone himself. Doing right does not depend on being loved for it.
After the old man's death, Bishop Myriel grows even more tender towards children and the suffering. A hard encounter can deepen compassion rather than harden it.
Myriel says he embarrassed a room of powerful churchmen, and that outside air came in through him like an open door. Plain honesty can change the atmosphere of any room.
Hugo says that anyone who serves the poor should carry a little of their hardship, like a workman near a furnace. Living close to need changes how a person lives.
Hugo says a good man is better served by keeping his eyes on truth, justice and charity than by getting caught in party quarrels. Partisanship can dim the things that matter most.
Hugo judges Myriel flawed in some political views, yet says he was just, humble and kind, and more tolerant than the narrator. A person can be wrong in part and still be good.
Hugo satirises careerists who flatter the powerful and then dress their ambition up as a vocation. Self-deception is easiest when it sounds noble.
Hugo warns that success is easily mistaken for merit, and prosperity does not prove ability. Look past the gilding to what has really been done.
Hugo describes Myriel's kindness as wide enough to include even the spiders and ants in his garden. Real goodwill extends to the humblest of things.
Hugo says character is worn like rock by drops of water: a gentle conviction, thought by thought, leaves hollows that do not wash away. Daily habits shape who we become.
Hugo notes that a pleasant manner makes a man seem good on first meeting, but real depth only shows after a few hours of his company. Give people time before you judge them.
Hugo says Myriel took the short path of the Gospel instead of grand speculation, and that a humble soul who loves is enough. Keep your faith practical.
Hugo says Myriel did not try to solve the mystery of suffering, but set about dressing its wounds. Let compassion guide your action more than abstract theory.
Myriel's whole teaching was simply to love one another. When a senator calls that nonsense, he replies that the soul should shut itself up in it, as a pearl in its oyster.
Hugo shows a traveller turned away from an inn because of his worn appearance, even though he has money to pay. Appearances are a poor guide to a person's worth.
In Les Miserables, a town's gossip runs ahead of a stranger, and one innkeeper after another turns him away before anyone asks what he has done. Rumour can shut doors long before facts are known.
Hugo has a woman tell a man, turned away from every other door, to knock at the one he has not tried yet. Sometimes the help you need is at the door you have not thought of.
When rumours of danger run through the house, Bishop Myriel listens calmly and asks plainly whether they are really in danger, rather than being swept along by fear.
Hugo shows a man turned away at every door until he feels the world has no place for him. Being shut out again and again breeds despair, and it is a warning for anyone who sees a stranger.
Myriel tells a stranger that a good door asks whether a person is suffering, not what his name is. Hospitality is about need, not reputation.
Myriel tells a released convict that if he leaves his past with goodwill rather than hatred, he is more worthy than many of those who judge him. Judge people by the direction they choose.
Baptistine notices that her brother never raises a guest's past and treats him as an ordinary person. Hugo suggests the truest pity is not to touch a sore point at all.
When a guest hints that he could be dangerous, Myriel answers that judging him is God's concern, then blesses him anyway. Trust can be a choice made in the face of risk.
