Books of '06--Les Miserables Book I

This is my favorite translation--unabridged and complete with a ribbon bookmark. (12/29/05-XXX)

Book Notes on Book I: An Upright Man

Concerning the Bishop

Be it true or false, what is said about men often has a much influence upon their lives, and especially upon their destinies, as what they do. pg. 9

Man has a body which is at once his burden and his temptation. He drags it along, and yields to it. He ought to watch over it, to keep it in bounds; to repress it, and only to obey it at the last extremity. It may be wrong to obey even then, but if so, the fault is venial. It is a fall, but a fall upon the knees, which may end in prayer. pg. 20-21

"Have no fear of robbers or murderers. Such dangers are without, and are but petty. We should fear ourselves. . .My sister, a priest should never take any precautions against a neighbor. What his neighbor does, God permits. Let us confine ourselves to prayer to God when we think that danger hangs over us. Let us beseech Him, not for ourselves, but that our brother may not fall into crime on our account." pg. 34-35.

It seemed as if it were a sort of rite with him, to prepare himself for sleep by meditating in presence of the great spectacle of the starry firmament. Sometimes at a late hour of the night, if the two women were awake, they would hear him slowly promenading the walks. He was there alone with himself, collected, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the serenity of the skies, moved in the darkness by the visible splendors of the constellations, and the invisible splendor of God, opening his soul to the thoughts which fall from the Unknown. pg. 61

What was more needed by this old man who divided the leisure hours of his life, where he had so little leisure, between gardening in the daytime and contemplation at night? Was not this narrow enclosure, with the sky for a background, enought to enable him to adore God in His most beautiful as well as in His most sublime works? Indeed, is not that all, and what more can be desired? A little garden to walk, and immensity to reflect opon. At his feet something to cultivate and gather; above his head something to study and meditate upon; a few flowers on the earth and all the stars in the sky. pg. 62

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