Intellectual and moral growth is no less indispensable than material improvement. Knowledge is a viaticum. Though is a prime necessity; truth is nourishment, like wheat. A reasoning faculty, deprived of knowledge and wisdom, pines away. We should feel the same pity for minds that do not eat as for stomachs. If there be anything sadder than a body perishing for want of bread, it is a mind dying of hunger for lack of light. All progress tends toward the solution. Some day, people will be amazed. As the human race ascends, the deepest layers will naturally emerge from the zone of distress. The effacement of wretchedness will be effected by a simple elevation level. . Victor Hugo
About This Quote

When we get to a higher level of wisdom, we can get rid of the ignorance. As the poet said, the understanding will bring the delightful feeling that people are no longer suffering because they are not getting enough food. The word material used in this quote is very interesting. It's not that material things are bad or are not important to have, but rather that knowledge is needed to have material things so there must be knowledge to acquire those things. This quote reminds us that knowledge comes from wisdom.

Source: Les MisaRables

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The acceptance of oneself is the essence of the whole moral problem and the epitome of a whole outlook on life. That I feed the hungry, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ -- all these are... - C.g. Jung
  2. And yet another moral occurs to me now: Make love when you can. It's good for you. - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
  3. Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognition of the fact that you choose to live--that productive work is the process by which man's consciousness controls his existence, a constant process of acquiring knowledge and shaping matter to fit one's purpose, of translating an idea... - Ayn Rand
  4. Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully. - Richard Bach
  5. This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness. - Dalai Lama Xiv
More Quotes By Victor Hugo
  1. What Is Love? I have met in the streets a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, the water passed through his shoes and the stars through his soul
  2. The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in...
  3. The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved -- loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
  4. Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead. --I shall feel it." She dropped her head again on Marius' knees, and her eyelids closed. He thought the poor soul had departed. Eponine remained motionless. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>All at once, at...
  5. You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love, is to live by it.
Related Topics