# Quote — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

> His specialty was to succeed in nothing... He was poor, but his fund of good humor was inexhaustible. He soon reached the last sou but never the last burst of laughter. When met by adversity, he saluted that acquaintance cordially, he patted catastrophes on the back; he was so familiar with fatality as to call it by its nick-name.

- Author: [Victor Hugo](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo.md)
- Book: [Les Miserables](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables.md)
- Original (fr): Sa spécialité était de ne réussir à rien. Par contre, il riait de tout... Il était pauvre, mais son gousset de bonne humeur était inépuisable. Il arrivait vite à son dernier sou, jamais à son dernier éclat de rire. Quand l’adversité entrait chez lui, il saluait cordialement cette ancienne connaissance, il tapait sur le ventre aux catastrophes; il était familier avec la Fatalité au point de l’appeler par son petit nom.
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Book_IV_-_The_Friends_of_the_A_B_C) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/his-specialty-was

## More from this book

> Never am I seen with coats bedizened with gold and gems; I leave this false splendour to badly organized minds.

p. 1027 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/never-am-i-seen.md)

> It is nothing to die; it is horrible not to live.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/it-is-nothing.md)

> The soul does not give itself up to despair until it has exhausted all illusions.

p. 968 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/the-soul-does.md)