Beginning Les Miserables

I have never read or watched Les Miserables, but I started reading it today. I have no idea what the story is about, but these were some interesting quotes that I wasn't expecting to find in the beginning of this book...

“I am not in this world to save my life, but to save souls.”

“Never let us fear robbers or murderers. These are external and small dangers; let us fear ourselves; prejudices are the real robbers, vices the true murderers."

“He did not study God; he was dazzled by Him.”

“Monseigneur Bienvenu was simply a man who accepted mysterious questions without scrutinizing, without disturbing them, or troubling his own mind, and who had in his soul a grave respect for the shadow.”

“Can human nature be thus utterly transformed? Can man, who is created good by God, be made bad by man? Can the soul be entirely remolded by destiny, and become evil if the destiny be evil? Can the heart be deformed, and contract incurable ugliness and infirmity under the pressure of disproportionate misfortune, like the spine beneath too low a roof? Is there not in every human soul, was there not in that Jean Valjean especially, a primary spark, a divine element, incorruptible in this world, and immortal in the other, which good can develop, fan, kindle, and cause to glisten splendidly, and which evil can never entirely extinguish?”