--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: While in any other great city the…" description: "\"“While in any other great city the vagabond child is a lost man, while nearly everywhere the child left to itself is, in some sort, sacrificed and aban..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e64/victor-hugo-32_children_while-in-any-other-great-city-the-vagabo_188945.jpg" --- # While in any other great city the vagabond child is a lost… ![“While in any other great city the vagabond child is a lost man, while nearly everywhere the child left to itself is, in some sort, sacrificed and abandoned to a kind of fatal immersion in the public vices which devour in him honesty and conscience, the street boy of Paris, we insist on this point…” quote by Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e64/victor-hugo-32_children_while-in-any-other-great-city-the-vagabo_188945.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e64/victor-hugo-32_children_while-in-any-other-great-city-the-vagabo_188945.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e64/victor-hugo-32_children_while-in-any-other-great-city-the-vagabo_188945.jpg) > ““While in any other great city the vagabond child is a lost man, while nearly everywhere the child left to itself is, in some sort, sacrificed and abandoned to a kind of fatal immersion in the public vices which devour in him honesty and conscience, the street boy of Paris, we insist on this point, however defaced and injured on the surface, is almost intact on the interior. It is a magnificent thing to put on record, and one which shines forth in the splendid probity of our popular revolutions, that a certain incorruptibility results from the idea which exists in the air of Paris, as salt exists in the water of the ocean.”” [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. Paris street children retain moral core despite harsh environment, reflecting the city's underlying incorruptibility. **In simple terms:** Paris kids stay morally intact despite hardship. Key Takeaway Recognize resilience in adverse settings. Themes morality urban life resilience Mood reflective hopeful Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - education reform - youth programs - community support - urban policy Key Concepts incorruptibility social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does environment shape moral development? - What supports inner integrity in hardship? A Different Perspective Idealizing resilience may overlook systemic failures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Vagabond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vagabond/) ## Related quotes > [I grew up as a little gay boy in Paris, Texas, which was a very conservative community and I had a strong religious background…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shangela/i-grew-up-as-a-little-gay-boy-in-paris-texas-which-was-a-very/) [Shangela](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shangela/) > [There were many things I could do for two or three days and earn enough money to live on for the rest of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/there-were-many-things-i-could-do-for-two-or-three-days-and-earn/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [“People keep asking what I do for a living and I keep saying that I don’t believe in making a living. That it’s a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-eriksson/people-keep-asking-what-i-do-for-a-living-and-i-keep-saying-that-i/) [Charlotte Eriksson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-eriksson/) > [“In the savage horde the most vagabond, as well as in the most civilized nations of Europe, man is only what he is made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-itard/in-the-savage-horde-the-most-vagabond-as-well-as-in-the-most/) Jean Itard > [The Vagabond life is the logical life to lead if one seeks the intimate knowledge of the world we were seeking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-halliburton/the-vagabond-life-is-the-logical-life-to-lead-if-one-seeks-the/) [Richard Halliburton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-halliburton/) > [“The Vagabond Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above And the byway nigh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-lewis-stevenson/the-vagabond-give-to-me-the-life-i-love-let-the-lave-go-by-me-give/) Robert Lewis Stevenson > ['Vagabond' is about owning where I come from, understanding the real power music had to transport myself with, whether that's busking in Europe or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddi-reader/vagabond-is-about-owning-where-i-come-from-understanding-the-real/) [Eddi Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddi-reader/) > [You are always in the world. Even in Vagabond. I am not on the road, I am not eating nothing. But in a way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-varda/you-are-always-in-the-world-even-in-vagabond-i-am-not-on-the-road-i/) [Agnes Varda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-varda/) > [“In a war one is either living like a prince or a vagabond. I”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanna-clarke/in-a-war-one-is-either-living-like-a-prince-or-a-vagabond-i/) [Susanna Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanna-clarke/) > [“There’s something about arriving in new cities, wandering empty streets with no destination. I will never lose the love for the arriving, but I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-eriksson/there-s-something-about-arriving-in-new-cities-wandering-empty/) [Charlotte Eriksson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-eriksson/) > [I'm a bit of a vagabond - a person who loses time and space because you don't know where you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-e-clark/i-m-a-bit-of-a-vagabond-a-person-who-loses-time-and-space-because-you/) [Annie E. Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-e-clark/) > [I'm a traveler and a vagabond and an observer, and the songs come through that. And that's just the way it's going to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-gauthier/i-m-a-traveler-and-a-vagabond-and-an-observer-and-the-songs-come/) [Mary Gauthier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-gauthier/) > [I was a complete vagabond till the age of 20, when I got my first job as an assistant director with Pankaj Parashar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/farhan-akhtar/i-was-a-complete-vagabond-till-the-age-of-20-when-i-got-my-first-job/) [Farhan Akhtar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/farhan-akhtar/) > [Artist by nature, actor by instinct, poet by accident, and vagabond by choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-blanding/artist-by-nature-actor-by-instinct-poet-by-accident-and-vagabond-by/) Don Blanding > [“...for if our life is vagabond our memory is sedentary and though we ourselves rush ceaselessly forward our recollections, indissolubly bound to the sites…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/for-if-our-life-is-vagabond-our-memory-is-sedentary-and-though-we/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## 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. 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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 Children quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [Behind every successful child is an adult who believed in him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/behind-every-successful-child-is-an-adult-who-believed-in-him/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [I believe in freedom to do what you want if you aren't hurting others, but pictures of obese protesters giving their children big gulps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-defranco/i-believe-in-freedom-to-do-what-you-want-if-you-aren-t-hurting-others/) [Philip DeFranco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-defranco/) > [If the audience likes your work, if they like you, they don't think whether you are married or have children or not. 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