so long as there shall exist a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the three problems of the age—the degradation of man by poverty, the ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by night—are not solved; so long as social asphyxia shall be possible; so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be useless.
—preface to les misérables, by victor hugo
(via glowinglunatic)
