" The Bishop clapped his hands.
‘That’s talking!’ he exclaimed. ‘What an excellent and
really marvellous thing is this materialism! Not every one
who wants it can have it. Ah! when one does have it, one
is no longer a dupe, one does not stupidly allow one’s self
to be exiled like Cato, nor stoned like Stephen, nor burned
alive like Jeanne d’Arc. Those who have succeeded in procuring
this admirable materialism have the joy of feeling
themselves irresponsible, and of thinking that they can devour
everything without uneasiness,—places, sinecures,
dignities, power, whether well or ill acquired, lucrative
recantations, useful treacheries, savory capitulations of
conscience,—and that they shall enter the tomb with their
digestion accomplished. How agreeable that is! I do not say
that with reference to you, senator. Nevertheless, it is impossible
for me to refrain from congratulating you. You
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great lords have, so you say, a philosophy of your own, and
for yourselves, which is exquisite, refined, accessible to the
rich alone, good for all sauces, and which seasons the voluptuousness
of life admirably. This philosophy has been
extracted from the depths, and unearthed by special seekers.
But you are good-natured princes, and you do not think
it a bad thing that belief in the good God should constitute
the philosophy of the people, very much as the goose stuffed
with chestnuts is the truffled turkey of the poor. "

― Victor Hugo