Named source · 1862

Les Misérables Quotes by Victor Hugo: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to Les Misérables by or associated with Victor Hugo, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

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English wording

Translation

Isabel F. Hapgood — Translator · French → English

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Represented passages

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The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved; loved for one’s own sake—let us say rather, loved in spite of one’s self;

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“The supreme happiness of life consists in the conviction that one is loved; loved for one’s own sake—let us say rather, loved in spite of one’s self;”

Victor Hugo

Meaning & context

Hugo’s narrator presents the felt certainty of being loved—including despite one’s imperfections—as an especially deep form of happiness.

Source details

Les Misérables, Project Gutenberg #135, in the represented Isabel F. Hapgood public-domain English translation. The sentence occurs in the narrator’s reflection on love and blindness; its English phrasing is translation-specific and belongs to the novel’s moral-religious rhetoric.

Translation

Isabel F. Hapgood — Translator · French → English

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