In this excerpt from "Les Miserables," Victor Hugo reflects on society's tendency to misinterpret true genius. He suggests that people often confuse superficial beauty and grandeur for genuine artistic talent and brilliance. This misjudgment reflects a lack of understanding of what true greatness entails.

Hugo uses vivid metaphors to illustrate his point, comparing the dazzling appearances that people admire to the more mundane and trivial aspects of life, such as duck footprints in the mud. This analogy highlights the disparity between surface-level beauty and the deeper, more meaningful qualities that define true genius.