To love someone is to make them transparent.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, Part 4 (Saint-Denis), Book 5, ch. 4
Aimer un être, c'est le rendre transparent.
To love someone is to make them transparent.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, Part 4 (Saint-Denis), Book 5, ch. 4
What it means
Hugo says things and creatures are opaque, hiding what is behind them. Love lets you see through someone to what is good and true in them. Look at people with that kind of attention.
The source
"To love someone is to make them transparent." Victor Hugo said it in Les Misérables, Part 4 (Saint-Denis), Book 5, ch. 4. Translated from the original French by Spartan Surfers.
"Aimer un être, c'est le rendre transparent."Original French, Les Misérables, Part 4 (Saint-Denis), Book 5, ch. 4. Text read at gutenberg.org.
Who said it
Victor Hugo (1802–1885). French poet and novelist who wrote Les Misérables (1862), much of it in exile on the island of Guernsey.
Questions
- What does "To love someone is to make them transparent." mean?
- Hugo says things and creatures are opaque, hiding what is behind them. Love lets you see through someone to what is good and true in them. Look at people with that kind of attention.
- Who said "To love someone is to make them transparent."?
- Victor Hugo (1802–1885). Source: Les Misérables, Part 4 (Saint-Denis), Book 5, ch. 4.
- What is the original French?
- Aimer un être, c'est le rendre transparent. Translated from the original French by Spartan Surfers.
- Is "To love someone is to make them transparent." on a shirt?
- Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 7 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.
Cite this line
"To love someone is to make them transparent." (Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, Part 4 (Saint-Denis), Book 5, ch. 4, translated by Spartan Surfers). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/to-love-someone-is-to-make-them-transparent
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Wear it your way
The same line in every look it fits. Each one is printed to order on heavy cotton, same price.
More from Victor Hugo
- Grander than the sea is the sky. Grander than the sky, the soul.Les Misérables, Part 1 (Fantine), Book 7, ch. 3
- Poverty and loneliness are battlefields. Their unknown heroes are sometimes the greatest.Les Misérables, Part 3 (Marius), Book 5, ch. 1
- The supreme happiness of life is knowing you are loved.Les Misérables, Part 1 (Fantine), Book 5, ch. 4
- Whoever does not weep does not see.Les Misérables, Part 5 (Jean Valjean), Book 1, ch. 16
- Dying is nothing. Not living is terrible.Les Misérables, Part 5 (Jean Valjean), Book 9, ch. 5
- Laughter is sunshine. It chases winter from the human face.Les Misérables, Part 2 (Cosette), Book 8, ch. 9