# Quote — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

> The assailants had the numbers; the insurgents the position. They were on the top of a wall, and they shot down the soldiers at the muzzles of their muskets, as they stumbled over the dead and wounded and became entangled in the escarpment. This barricade, built as it was, and admirably supported, was really one of those positions in which a handful of men hold a legion in check.

- Author: [Victor Hugo](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo.md)
- Book: [Les Miserables](https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables.md)
- Original (fr): Les assaillants avaient le nombre; les insurgés avaient la position. Ils étaient au haut d’une muraille, et ils foudroyaient à bout portant les soldats trébuchant dans les morts et les blessés et empêtrés dans l’escarpement. Cette barricade, construite comme elle l’était et admirablement contrebutée, était vraiment une de ces situations où une poignée d’hommes tient en échec une légion.
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Book_I_-_The_War_Between_Four_Walls) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/the-assailants-had

## 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)