“Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life.” ~ Victor Hugo
When I lived in Paris many years ago I had the good fortune to attend the press opening of the first ever performance in French of the stage musical adaptation of Hugo’s novel, Les Misérables. The experience was fabulous and it left me with a great respect for the work of Victor Hugo as well as a deeper appreciation of why his novel was so influential in its day. Moreover, it caused me to think a great deal about social injustice at a point in my life when I was forming my early views on the world.
Most importantly, though, the memorable evening sparked in me a passionate interest in a refined and energetic self-expression…regardless of my station in life at any given point in time. Hugo imbued his characters with the eloquence to express their deepest feelings, even in the most difficult times.
I also came to the realization as well that letting my circumstances determine the nature and quality of my expression was tantamount to admitting failure in my effort to hew to the highest standard in living. It is clear to me now that radiance is infinitely more influential than reaction in any situation.
Finally, I came to understand that there is no way around the fact that the condition of your heart permeates your thinking and precision of your thinking determines your capacity for decision in life. A troubled heart leads to unclear thinking and the net result is indecision. Conversely, an untroubled heart constrains to precise thinking and the product of both is a decisiveness that cannot be faked.
Gregory Hake 
The characters in Les Miserables, and the real people that lived in that time, lived in a situation where the value of a life was much lower that what we experience in the modern first world. While that may make many people not care about the more refined things in life, or worry more about survival than thriving, the characters in that particular Hugo novel never stopped thinking about the greater things and dreaming of a better life. I think it is an important lesson that we need to be living in the world we live in, and be able to make the precise decisions with a clean heart in it, but we must always do our best to move to a higher state than we are in. It pains me to say it, but we are still very far away from the most refined state possible for humanity, and we have to make sure that we never stop moving in that direction.
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Certainly words to live by! It’s so true, whatever condition your heart is in, it is reflected in our thoughts, which then affects our ability to make wise choices.
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Troubles do not in and of themselves produce a troubled heart. There is a choice involved. The condition of the heart is determined by what we allow to gestate there and be born into our thinking and words. We seem to have more choice in these matters than we typically exercise.
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I believe the heart and mind are inextricably connected. Our mind is dependent on the clarity of the heart and the heart’s power is amplified by the function of the mind. I think being all one or the other is impossible; it’s more like we have surpressed one and with that we are doomed to live an unbalanced life.
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The condition of the heart is the the springboard for everything else in your life. It is what determines what is created. Thank you for a window into your personal growth. We learn from each other.
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