"Nothing was more sorrowful than to see her amusing herself, and, so to speak, fluttering about the room with the movements of a bird which is startled by the light or which has a wing broken. You feel that under other conditions of education and of destiny, the gay and free manner of this young girl might have been something sweet and charming.
Never among animals does the creature which is born to be a dove change into an osprey. This is seen only among men."
Victor Hugo, Les Miserables ("A Rose in Misery")