--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Alas! What are all these lives driven…" description: "\"“Alas! What are all these lives driven willy-nilly? Where are they going? Why are they like this? He who knows the answer to that, sees the darkness as..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg" --- # Alas! What are all these lives driven willy-nilly? Where… ![“Alas! What are all these lives driven willy-nilly? Where are they going? Why are they like this? He who knows the answer to that, sees the darkness as a whole. He is alone. His name is God.” quote by Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg) > ““Alas! What are all these lives driven willy-nilly? Where are they going? Why are they like this? He who knows the answer to that, sees the darkness as a whole. He is alone. His name is God.”” [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Existential questioning of life's purpose and the divine perspective on human suffering. **In simple terms:** People wonder about life's meaning and God. Key Takeaway Contemplate the larger meaning behind suffering. Themes existentialism faith human suffering Mood reflective somber Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - personal crisis - philosophical debate - theological study Key Concepts philosophical inquiry spiritual reflection Questions to Reflect On - What gives you purpose amid suffering? - How do you reconcile doubt with belief? A Different Perspective Answers may remain elusive, causing isolation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) ## Related quotes > [Faith is seeing light with your heart when all your eyes sees darkness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/faith-is-seeing-light-with-your-heart-when-all-your-eyes-sees-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The light never sees darkness, therefore darkness does not exist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dominic-minguzzi/the-light-never-sees-darkness-therefore-darkness-does-not-exist/) [Dominic Minguzzi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dominic-minguzzi/) > [And if, happy in the lot of no created thing, he withdraws into the center of his own unity, his spirit, made one with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giovanni-pico-della-mirandola/and-if-happy-in-the-lot-of-no-created-thing-he-withdraws-into-the/) [Giovanni Pico della Mirandola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giovanni-pico-della-mirandola/) > [I would rather walk every day in the darkness with a God who remains a mystery to me than in the light with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-warren/i-would-rather-walk-every-day-in-the-darkness-with-a-god-who-remains/) [Kay Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-warren/) > [“Is darkness God too? Yes, but we have to turn on the light to see Him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mihail-militaru/is-darkness-god-too-yes-but-we-have-to-turn-on-the-light-to-see-him/) [Mihail Militaru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mihail-militaru/) > [What could a child know of the darkness of God's plan? Or how flesh is so frail it is hardly more than a dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/what-could-a-child-know-of-the-darkness-of-god-s-plan-or-how-flesh-is/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-w-wiersbe/never-doubt-in-the-darkness-what-god-has-told-you-in-the-light/) [Warren W. Wiersbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-w-wiersbe/) > [“Here, when you looked into darkness, there was God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madison-smartt-bell/here-when-you-looked-into-darkness-there-was-god/) [Madison Smartt Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madison-smartt-bell/) > [“God is in the darkness and God is in the wilderness. I now know that by personal experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-graham-lotz/god-is-in-the-darkness-and-god-is-in-the-wilderness-i-now-know-that/) [Anne Graham Lotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-graham-lotz/) > [All the forces of darkness cannot keep you from where God is taking you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-osteen/all-the-forces-of-darkness-cannot-keep-you-from-where-god-is-taking/) [Joel Osteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-osteen/) > [“I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you Which shall be the darkness of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot-2/i-said-to-my-soul-be-still-and-let-the-dark-come-upon-you-which-shall-2/) [T.S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot-2/) > [In this way, his unhappy soul struggled with its anguish. Eighteen hundred years before this unfortunate man, the mysterious Being, in whom all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/in-this-way-his-unhappy-soul-struggled-with-its-anguish-eighteen/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“The real human division is this: the luminous and the shady. To diminish the number of the shady, to augment the number of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-real-human-division-is-this-the-luminous-and-the-shady-to/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“He was out there alone with himself, composed, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart to the serenity of the skies, moved in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-was-out-there-alone-with-himself-composed-tranquil-adoring/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The repose of darkness is deeper on the water than on the land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-repose-of-darkness-is-deeper-on-the-water-than-on-the-land/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## More by Victor Hugo > [Houses are like the human beings that inhabit them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/houses-are-like-the-human-beings-that-inhabit-them/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“There is still a certain grace in a dead festival. It has been happy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/there-is-still-a-certain-grace-in-a-dead-festival-it-has-been-happy/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“First I loved women, then animals, and now I love stones. They're just as amusing as women and animals and they're much less trecherous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/first-i-loved-women-then-animals-and-now-i-love-stones-they-re-just/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Nature is pitiless; she never withdraws her flowers, her music, her fragrance, and her sunlight from before human cruelty or suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/nature-is-pitiless-she-never-withdraws-her-flowers-her-music-her/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones. And when you have finished your daily task, go to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/have-courage-for-the-great-sorrows-of-life-and-patience-for-the-small/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The peasants of the Asturias believe that in every litter of wolves there is one pup that is killed by the mother for fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-peasants-of-the-asturias-believe-that-in-every-litter-of-wolves/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Great blunders are often made, like large ropes, of a multitude of fibres.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-blunders-are-often-made-like-large-ropes-of-a-multitude-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“For love is like a tree; it grows of itself; it send its roots deep into our being, and often continues to grow green…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/for-love-is-like-a-tree-it-grows-of-itself-it-send-its-roots-deep/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Blacheville smiles with the self-satisfied smugness of a man whose vanity is tickled”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/blacheville-smiles-with-the-self-satisfied-smugness-of-a-man-whose/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Loving in ignorance, she loved with all the more passion. She did not know whether it was good or evil, beneficent or dangerous, necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/loving-in-ignorance-she-loved-with-all-the-more-passion-she-did-not/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/laughter-is-the-sun-that-drives-winter-from-the-human-face/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Our joys have shadows. The perfect smile belongs to God alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/our-joys-have-shadows-the-perfect-smile-belongs-to-god-alone/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“When those we love are in question, our prudence invents every sort of madness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/when-those-we-love-are-in-question-our-prudence-invents-every-sort-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Love is a fault; so be it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/love-is-a-fault-so-be-it/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) [Explore all 2,181 Victor Hugo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## More Darkness quotes > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/) [Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/) > [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/) [Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/) > [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/) [anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/) [Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/) > [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/) [Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/) > [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/) [Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/) > [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/) [Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/) > [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/) Nicole Gentile [Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Alas! What are all these lives driven willy-nilly? Where are they going? Why are they like this? He who knows the answer to that, sees the darkness as a whole. He is alone. His name is God.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Victor Hugo" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-willy-nilly-where-are-they-going/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Darkness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-willy-nilly-where-are-they-going/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e6/victor-hugo-32_darkness_alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-wil_2424660.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Alas! What are all these lives driven willy-nilly? Where are they going? Why are they like this? He who…” — Victor Hugo", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Victor Hugo", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Alas! What are all these lives...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-willy-nilly-where-are-they-going/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/alas-what-are-all-these-lives-driven-willy-nilly-where-are-they-going/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```