A quotation from Victor Hugo
But secondly, you say, “society must exact vengeance, and society must punish.” Wrong on both counts. Vengeance comes from the individual, and punishment from God.
Society is poised between the two. Punishment is too far above, and vengeance too far beneath it. Nothing so great or so petty can be appropriate. We must not “strike in vengeance” but improve by correction.
[Mais, reprend-on, — il faut que la société se venge, que la société punisse. — Ni l’un, ni l’autre. Se venger est de l’individu, punir est de Dieu.
La société est entre deux. Le châtiment est au-dessus d’elle, la vengeance au-dessous. Rien de si grand et de si petit ne lui sied. Elle ne doit pas “punir pour se venger”; elle doit corriger pour améliorer.]
... Show more...A quotation from Victor Hugo
But secondly, you say, “society must exact vengeance, and society must punish.” Wrong on both counts. Vengeance comes from the individual, and punishment from God.
Society is poised between the two. Punishment is too far above, and vengeance too far beneath it. Nothing so great or so petty can be appropriate. We must not “strike in vengeance” but improve by correction.
[Mais, reprend-on, — il faut que la société se venge, que la société punisse. — Ni l’un, ni l’autre. Se venger est de l’individu, punir est de Dieu.
La société est entre deux. Le châtiment est au-dessus d’elle, la vengeance au-dessous. Rien de si grand et de si petit ne lui sied. Elle ne doit pas “punir pour se venger”; elle doit corriger pour améliorer.]
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French writer, journalist, human rights activist, politician
Last Day of a Condemned Man [Le Dernier Jour d’un Condamné], 1832 Preface (1829) [tr. Woolen (1992)]
More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/86830/
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But secondly, you say, "society must exact vengeance, and society must punish." Wrong on both counts. Vengeance comes from the individual, and punishment from God. Society is poised between the two.
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