“Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.”

—  Victor Hugo

Variant: There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees." by Victor Hugo?
Victor Hugo photo
Victor Hugo308
French poet, novelist, and dramatist 1802–1885

Related quotes

Victor Hugo photo

“The soul helps the body, and at certain moments raises it. It is the only bird that sustains its cage.”

Victor Hugo book Les Misérables

Source: Les Miserables

“In Western thought, the body holds the soul; in Indian thought, the soul holds the body.”

Ram Swarup (1920–1998) Indian historian

On Hinduism (2000)

Kurien Kunnumpuram photo

“The term spirituality is misleading. It gives the impression that we are concerned only with the soul and its activities like prayer and contemplation. The realm of the spirit is thought of as distinct from the material realm, the realm of work, of science and economics. Underlying this dichotomy is the Greek understanding of the human person as a composite of soul and body or as a soul temporarily housed in the body. The classical example of this is Plato’s image of the human person as the charioteer in the chariot.”

Kurien Kunnumpuram (1931–2018) Indian theologian

Kunnumpuram, K. (ed) (2006) Life in Abundance: Indian Christian Reflections on Spirituality. Mumbai: St Pauls
On Spirituality

“The supermodels all have skeletal bodies . . . the very existence of their bodies expresses an attitude: the disdain for men. The more men like a certain part of their bodies, the less they want to grow that part. Fashion is such an attitude.”

Yang Li (1992) Chinese stand-up comedian

Source: "The Art of Telling the Truth: Chinese Female Stand-up Comedians" in World Literature Today https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/culture/art-telling-truth-chinese-female-stand-comedians-ping-zhu (1 February 2021)

Napoleon I of France photo

“The issue of a battle is the result of an instant, of a thought. There is the advance, with its various combinations, the battle is joined, the struggle goes on a certain time, the decisive moment presents itself, a spark of genius discloses it, and the smallest body of reserves accomplish victory.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Susan B. Anthony photo

“I pray every single moment of my life; not on my knees but with my work. My prayer is to lift women to equality with men. Work and worship are one with me.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

“My love for you is a prayer, she thought. Love is the only prayer I know. She thought she had never loved him so much as at this moment, when she heard the convent door close, hard and final, and felt the wall shutting her in.”

Marion Zimmer Bradley book The Mists of Avalon

Gwenhwyfar
The Mists of Avalon (1983)

“Whatever work I did became worship of the Lord;
Whatever word I uttered became a prayer;
Whatever this body of mine experienced became
the sadhana of Saiva Tantra
illumining my path to Parmasiva.”

Lalleshwari (1320–1392) Indian writer, mystic and saint

Lal Ded Vekhas http://ikashmir.net/lalded/vakhs.html <br class="br">Poetry, From Kashmiri Poetry

“Having left us with thought (not a soul), and extension (not a body), [Descartes] does not know how to account for the union of soul and body.”

Étienne Gilson (1884–1978) French historian and philosopher

Methodical Realism

“The body apologizes to the soul for its errors, and the soul asks forgiveness for squatting in the body without invitation.”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Related topics