She scarcely knew, perhaps, the meaning of the word love, and yet not unwillingly ensnared those about her in the toils.--_Toilers of the Sea._
She stopped. She walked back a few paces, stopped again; she inclined her head, with those thoughtful eyes which look attentive yet see nothing.... Her lowered eyelids had that vague contraction which suggests a tear checked in its course, or a thought suppressed.... Her face, which might inspire adoration, seemed meditative, like portraits of the Virgin.--_Toilers of the Sea._
She broke the bread into two fragments, and gave them to the children, who ate with avidity. "She has kept none for herself," grumbled the sergeant. "Because she is not hungry," said a soldier. "Because she is a mother," said the sergeant.--_Ninety-Three._
Extreme simplicity touches on extreme coquetry.... They did not speak, they did not bow, they did not know each other, but they met; and like the stars in the heavens, they lived by looking at each other. It was thus that she gradually became a woman, and was developed into a beautiful and loving woman, conscious of her beauty and ignorant of her love. She was a coquette into the bargain, through her innocence.--_Les Misérables._
Does not beauty confer a benefit upon us, even by the simple fact of being beautiful?--Here and there we meet with one who possesses that fairy-like power of enchanting all about her; sometimes she is ignorant herself of this magical influence, which is, however, for that reason only the more perfect. Her presence lights up the home; her approach is like cheerful warmth; she passes by, and we are content; she stays awhile, and we are happy.--_Toilers of the Sea._
To behold her is to live; she is the Aurora with a human face. She has no need to do more than simply to be, she makes an Eden of the house; Paradise breathes from her: and she communicates this delight to all, without taking any greater trouble than that of existing beside them. Is it not a thing divine to have a smile which, none know how, has the power to lighten the weight of that enormous chain which all the living, in common, drag behind them?--_Toilers of the Sea._
On the day when a woman who passes before you emits light as she walks you are lost, for you love. You have from that moment but one thing to do: think of her so intently that she will be compelled to think of you.--_Les Misérables._