“Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, this is recognised: that the human race has been harshly treated, but that it has advanced.”
Source: Les Misérables
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Victor Hugo 308
French poet, novelist, and dramatist 1802–1885Related quotes

“The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.”
"Introduction", item 1
Industrial Society and Its Future (1995)

"The Kingdom of Man" https://archive.org/details/kingdomofman289cham (1938)

“The human race has improved everything but the human race.”
In "Wages are Going Lower!" (1951), William Joseph Baxter wrote, "One might almost say that the human race seems to have improved everything except people." Variations of this quote have appeared since both with and without attribution to Adlai Stevenson, but no documented connection to Stevenson is known.
Misattributed

Harold Pinter, et al. "Letters: Human Rights and Cuba" http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,1445897,00.html, The Guardian (26 Mar. 2005). Pinter was a signatory.