Quote by: Victor Hugo

Usually, the murmur that rises up from Paris by day is the city talking; in the night it is the city breathing; but here it is the city singing. Listen, then, to this chorus of bell-towers - diffuse over the whole the murmur of half a million people - the eternal lament of the river - the endless sighing of the wind - the grave and distant quartet of the four forests placed upon the hills, in the distance, like immense organpipes - extinguish to a half light all in the central chime that would otherwise be too harsh or too shrill; and then say whetehr you know of anything in the world more rich, more joyous, more golden, more dazzling, than this tumult of bells and chimes - this furnace of music - these thousands of brazen voices, all singing together in flutes of stone three hundred feet high, than this city which is but one orchestra - this symphony which roars like a tempest.


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Author Bio


  • NameVictor Hugo
  • DescriptionFrench poet, novelist, and dramatist
  • AliasesVictor Marie Hugo
  • BornFebruary 26, 1802
  • DiedMay 22, 1885
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionPoet; Politician; Playwright; Novelist; Draughtsperson; Librettist; Essayist; Memoirist; Writer