“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”Victor Hugo · Mizerabilii · 1862 · Partea a II-a, cartea a III-a, capitolul IV
Whoever cannot imagine things differently cannot build them differently either.
Hugo treats the dream as a blueprint before it is an illusion. Every change begins as an image of itself: whoever cannot imagine things otherwise cannot build them otherwise either. The mechanism is simple — a vision steers small, repeated decisions until they harden into reality. The misery he attacked in his novel looked utopian in 1862; the rights of children, women and prisoners he championed are now common ground.
Why it matters Useful for anyone postponing a project while waiting for certainty: first a clear picture of the outcome, then the steps.