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“Nobody loves the light like the blind man.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“I'd like a drink. I desire to forget life. Life is a hideous invention by somebody I don't know. It doesn't last, and it's good for nothing. You break your neck simply living.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Relegated as he was to a corner and as though sheltered behind the billiard table, the soldiers, their eyes fixed upon Enjolras, had not even noticed Grantaire, and the sergeant was preparing to repeat the order: 'Take aim!' when suddenly they heard a powerful voice cry out beside them, 'Vive la Republique! Count me in.'
Grantaire was on his feet.
The immense glare of the whole combat he had missed and in which he had not been, appeared in the flashing eyes of the transfigured drunkard.
He repeated, 'Vive la Republique!' crossed the room firmly, and took his place in front of the muskets beside Enjolras.
'Two at one shot,' he said.
And, turning toward Enjolras gently, he said to him, 'Will you permit it?'
Enjolras shook his hand with a smile.
The smile had not finished before the report was heard.
Enjolras, pierced by eight bullets, remained backed up against the wall is if the bullets had nailed him there. Except that his head was tilted.
Grantaire, struck down, collapsed at his feet.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Gentlemen of the human race, I say to hell with the lot of you.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“However, this sceptic had one fanaticism. This fanaticism was neither a dogma, nor an idea, nor an art, nor a science; it was a man: Enjolras. Grantaire admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras. To whom did this anarchical scoffer unite himself in this phalanx of absolute minds? To the most absolute. In what manner had Enjolras subjugated him? By his ideas? No. By his character. A phenomenon which is often observable. A sceptic who adheres to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors. That which we lack attracts us. No one loves the light like the blind man. The dwarf adores the drum-major. The toad always has his eyes fixed on heaven. Why? In order to watch the bird in its flight. Grantaire, in whom writhed doubt, loved to watch faith soar in Enjolras. He had need of Enjolras. That chaste, healthy, firm, upright, hard, candid nature charmed him, without his being clearly aware of it, and without the idea of explaining it to himself having occurred to him.”
― Victor Hugo

“What about me?�� said Grantaire. ‘I’m here.��
‘Y�dz�?��
‘Yes, me.��
‘You? Rally Republicans! You? In defence of principles, fire up hearts that have grown cold!��
‘Why not?��
‘Are you capable of being good for something?��
‘I have the vague ambition to be,�� said Grantaire.
‘You don’t believe in anything.��
‘I believe in you.��
‘Grantaire, will you do me a favour?��
‘Anything. Polish your boots.��
‘Well, don’t meddle in our affairs. Go and sleep off the effects of your absinthe.��
‘You’re heartless, Enjolras.��
‘As if you’d be the man to send to the Maine gate! As if you were capable of it!��
‘I’m capable of going down Rue des Grès, crossing Place St-Michel, heading off along Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, taking Rue de Vaugirard, passing the Carmelite convent, turning into Rue d’Assas, proceeding to Rue du Cherche-Midi, leaving the Military Court behind me, wending my way along Rue des Vieilles-Tuileries, striding across the boulevard, following Chaussée du Maine, walking through the toll-gate and going into Richefeu’s. I’m capable of that. My shoes are capable of that.��
‘Do you know them at all, those comrades who meet at Richefeu’s?'
‘Not very well. But we’re on friendly terms.��
‘What will you say to them?��
‘I’ll talk to them about Robespierre, of course! And about Danton. About principles.��
‘Y�dz�?��
‘Yes, me. But I’m not being given the credit I deserve. When I put my mind to it, I’m terrific. I’ve read Prudhomme, I’m familiar with the Social Contract, I know by heart my constitution of the year II. “The liberty of the citizen ends where the liberty of another citizen begins.�� Do you take me for a brute beast? I have in my drawer an old promissory note from the time of the Revolution. The rights of man, the sovereignty of the people, for God’s sake! I’m even a bit of an Hébertist. I can keep coming out with some wonderful things, watch in hand, for a whole six hours by the clock.��
‘Be serious,�� said Enjolras.
‘I mean it,�� replied Grantaire.

Enjolras thought for a few moments, and with the gesture of a man who had come to a decision, ‘Grantaire,�� he said gravely, ‘I agree to try you out. You’ll go to the Maine toll-gate.��

Grantaire lived in furnished lodgings very close to Café Musain. He went out, and came back five minutes later. He had gone home to put on a Robespierre-style waistcoat.
‘Red,�� he said as he came in, gazing intently at Enjolras. Then, with an energetic pat of his hand, he pressed the two scarlet lapels of the waistcoat to his chest.
And stepping close to Enjolras he said in his ear, ‘Don’t worry.��
He resolutely jammed on his hat, and off he went.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Grantaire, earthbound in doubt, loved to watch Enjolras soaring in the upper air of faith. He needed Enjolras. Without being fully aware of it, or seeking to account for it himself, he was charmed by that chaste, upright, inflexible and candid nature.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“I'm not totally useless. I can be used as a bad example.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“One might almost say that affinities begin with the letters of the alphabet. In that sequence, O and P are inseparable. You might just as well say O and P as Orestes and Pylades.
A true satellite of Enjolras, Grantaire lived within this circle of young men. He dwelt among them, only with them was he happy, he followed them everywhere. His pleasure was to watch these figures come and go in a wine-induced haze. They put up with him because of his good humour.
In his belief, Enjolras looked down on this sceptic; and in his sobriety, on this drunkard. He spared him a little lordly pity.
Grantaire was an unwanted Pylades. Always snubbed by Enjolras, spurned, rebuffed and back again for more, he said of Enjolras, ‘What marmoreal magnificence'.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Gentlemen, my father always detested me because I could not understand mathematics. I understand only love and liberty.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Among all these passionate hearts and all these undoubting minds there was one skeptic. How did he happen to be there? From juxtaposition. The name of this skeptic was Grantaire, and he usually signed with this rebus: R. Grantaire was a man who took good care not to believe in anything.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“The oysters are spoiled, the servants are ugly. I hate humankind.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“I understand only love and liberty.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

“Анжольрас, стоявший с ружьем в руке на гребне заграждения, поднял свое прекрасное строгое лицо. Анжольрас, как известно, был из породы спартанцев и пуритан. Он умер бы при Фермопилах вместе с Леонидом и сжег бы Дрохеду вместе с Кромвелем.

�� Грантер! �� крикнул он. �� Пойди куда-нибудь, проспись. Здесь место опьянению, а не пьянству. Не позорь баррикаду.

Эти гневные слова произвели на Грантера необычайное впечатление. Ему словно выплесну-ли стакан холодной воды в лицо. Он, казалось, сразу протрезвился, сел, облокотился на стол возле окна, с невыразимой кротостью взглянул на Анжольраса и сказал:
�� Позволь мне поспать здесь.

�� Ступай для этого в другое место! �� крикнул Анжольрас.

Но Грантер, не сводя с него нежного и мутного взгляда, проговорил:
�� Позволь мне тут поспать, пока я не умру.

Анжольрас презрительно взглянул на него.

�� Грантер! Ты неспособен ни верить, ни думать, ни хотеть, ни жить, ни умирать.

�� Вот ты увидишь, �� серьезно сказал Грантер.

Он пробормотал еще несколько невнятных слов, потом его голова тяжело упала на стол, и мгновение спустя он уже спал, что довольно обычно для второй стадии опьянения, к которому его резко и безжалостно подтолкнул Анжольрас.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“I am thirsty. Mortals, I am dreaming: that the turn of Heidelberg has an attack of apoplecy, and that I am one of the dozen leeches which will be applied to it. I want a drink.”
― Victor Hugo

“He was astonishingly ugly, so much so that the prettiest boot-embroiderer of the day, Irma Boissy, was so revolted by his looks as to declare him to be impossible. But this in no way discouraged Grantaire, who gazed tenderly and fixedly at all women with an air of saying "If I chose", and strove to persuade his comrades that he was universally sought after.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“But, sceptic that he was, he had one fanatical devotion, not for an idea, a creed, an art or a science, but for a man �� for Enjolras. Grantaire admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras. The anarchic questioner of all beliefs had attached himself to the most absolute of all that circle of believers. Enjolras had conquered him not by any force of reason but by character. It is a not uncommon phenomenon. The sceptic clinging to a believer is something as elementary as the law of complementary colours. We are drawn to what we lack. No one loves daylight more than a blind man. The dwarf adores the drum-major. The toad has its eyes upturned to Heaven, and for what? �� to watch the flight of the birds. Grantaire, earthbound in doubt, loved to watch Enjolras soaring in the upper air of faith. He needed Enjolras. Without being fully aware of it, or seeking to account for it himself, he was charmed by that chaste, upright, inflexible, and candid nature. Instinctively he was attracted to his opposite. His flabby, incoherent, and shapeless thinking attached itself to Enjolras as to a spinal column. He was in any case a compound of apparently incompatible elements, at once ironical and friendly, affectionate beneath his seeming indifference. His mind could do without faith, but his heart could not do without friendship: a profound contradiction, for affection in itself is faith. Such was his nature. There are men who seem born to be two-sided. They are Pollux, Patrocles, Nisus, Ephestion. They can live only in union with the other who is their reverse side; their name is one of a pair, always preceded by the conjunction "and"; their lives are not their own; they are the other side of a destiny which is not theirs. Grantaire was one of those, the reverse side of Enjolras. Truly the satellite of Enjolras, he formed one of that circle of young men, went everywhere with them and was only happy in their company. His delight was to see those figures moving amid the mists of wine, and they bore with him because of his good humour.
Enjolras, the believer, despised the sceptic and soberly deplored the drunkard. His attitude towards him was one of pitying disdain. Grantaire was an unwelcome Ephestion. But, roughly treated though he was by Enjolras, harshly repulsed and rejected, he always came back, saying of him: "What a splendid statue!”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“There are marble-workers at the Barrière du Maine, and painters and workers in the sculptors' studios. They're keen, on the whole, but inclined to blow hot and cold. I don't know what's got into them recently. They seem to have lost interest, they spend their whole time playing dominoes. It's important for someone to go and talk to them, and talk bluntly. Their place is the Café Richefeu and they're always there between twelve and one. It needs a puff of air to brighten up those members. I was going to ask that dreamy character, Marius, but he doesn't come here any more. So I need someone for the Barrière du Maine, and I've no one to send."
"There's me," said Grantaire. "I'm here."
"You?"
"Why not?"
"You'll go out and preach republicanism, rouse up the half-hearted in the name of principle?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Would you be any good at it?"
"I'd quite like to try," said Grantaire.
"But you don't believe in anything?"
"I believe in you."
"Grantaire, do you really want to do me a service?"
"Anything you like �� I'd black your boots."
"Then keep out of our affairs. Stick to your absinthe.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables