Cette citation est extraite de 'Les Châtiments' (1853), un recueil de poèmes satiriques de Victor Hugo, écrit en exil pour dénoncer Napoléon III et le Second Empire.
"To speak is to abuse; to think is to usurp. The voice serves to be silent and the mind to crawl. The world is prostrate, and man, once proud, gentle and supple today, trembles. -Peace! says war."