As long as the social oppression caused by law and custom exists, the human world is artificially turned into hell at the height of civilization and the inevitable calamity of the innate fortune of mankind;

As long as the social oppression caused by law and custom exists, the human world is artificially turned into hell at the height of civilization and the inevitable calamity of the innate fortune of mankind;

As long as the three problems of this century — poverty degrades men, hunger degrades women, and darkness weakens children — remain unresolved;

As long as there is a possibility of social poisoning in certain areas, in other words, and in a broader sense, as long as there is ignorance and misery in the world, then a work of the same nature as this book will not be useless.

January 1, 1862

Hugo's preface to Les Misérables