--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He saw before him two roads, both equally…" description: "\"He saw before him two roads, both equally straight ; but he saw two; and that terrified him — him, who had never in his life known but one straight lin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55f/victor-hugo-32_anguish_he-saw-before-him-two-roads-both-equally_2358110.jpg" --- # He saw before him two roads, both equally straight ; but… ![“He saw before him two roads, both equally straight ; but he saw two; and that terrified him — him, who had never in his life known but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory.” quote by Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55f/victor-hugo-32_anguish_he-saw-before-him-two-roads-both-equally_2358110.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55f/victor-hugo-32_anguish_he-saw-before-him-two-roads-both-equally_2358110.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55f/victor-hugo-32_anguish_he-saw-before-him-two-roads-both-equally_2358110.jpg) > “He saw before him two roads, both equally straight ; but he saw two; and that terrified him — him, who had never in his life known but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory.” [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. Facing two equally viable paths creates paralysis, especially when one’s experience is limited to a single direction. **In simple terms:** Choosing between equal options can be terrifying. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty and decide. Themes decision making fear choice psychology Mood reflective anxious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career crossroads - personal relationships - creative projects Key Concepts existential dilemma confidence risk assessment Questions to Reflect On - What criteria help choose? - How does fear affect judgment? A Different Perspective Indecision can lead to missed opportunities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Les miserable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/les-miserable/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Straight line](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/straight-line/) [Terrified](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrified/) [Two roads](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two-roads/) ## Related quotes > [Before him he saw two roads, both equally straight; but he did see two; and that terrified him--he who had never in his life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/before-him-he-saw-two-roads-both-equally-straight-but-he-did-see-two/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [On this point, the priest and the philosopher agree: We must die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/on-this-point-the-priest-and-the-philosopher-agree-we-must-die/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [To be wicked does not insure prosperity - for the inn did not succeed well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/to-be-wicked-does-not-insure-prosperity-for-the-inn-did-not-succeed/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“As for us, we who do not believe what these women believe, but live like them by faith, never could look without a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/as-for-us-we-who-do-not-believe-what-these-women-believe-but-live/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [We are for religion against the religions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/we-are-for-religion-against-the-religions/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [We do not comprehend everything, but we insult nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/we-do-not-comprehend-everything-but-we-insult-nothing/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Those who pray always are necessary to those who never pray. In our view, the whole question is in the amount of thought that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/those-who-pray-always-are-necessary-to-those-who-never-pray-in-our/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [When we are at the end of life, to die means to go away; when we are at the beginning, to go away means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/when-we-are-at-the-end-of-life-to-die-means-to-go-away-when-we-are-at/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [There are many tongues to talk, and but few heads to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/there-are-many-tongues-to-talk-and-but-few-heads-to-think/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [I am not in the world to care for my life, but for souls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/i-am-not-in-the-world-to-care-for-my-life-but-for-souls/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Nothing is more dangerous than discontinued labor; it is habit lost. 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So I bushwhacked a path in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pansy-schneider-horst/how-i-got-into-this-well-like-frost-you-know-i-saw-two-roads/) [Pansy Schneider-Horst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pansy-schneider-horst/) > [“if you don't know where you want to go, all roads are equally good”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tymothy-garton-ash/if-you-don-t-know-where-you-want-to-go-all-roads-are-equally-good/) Tymothy Garton Ash ## 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 Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. 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Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. 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