Alexandre Dumas

“C’est que l’on a souvent pour ennemis des gens qu’on voudrait avoir pour amis.”

“Crois-moi, on cherche mal quand on ne réfléchit pas.”

“In which it is proved that, notwithstanding their names' ending in OS and IS, the heroes of the story which we are about to have the honor to relate to our readers have nothing mythological about them.”

“Il y a des époques fatales où la prière, cet hymne naturel que Dieu a mis au fond du cœur de l’homme, devient suspecte aux yeux des hommes, car la prière est un acte d’espoir ou de reconnaissance.”

“Return to the world still more brilliant because of your former sorrows.”

“[...]Non vi sono né felicità né infelicità assolute in questo mondo, vi è soltanto il paragone tra una condizione e l'altra, ecco tutto. Solo colui che ha provato l'estremo dolore è atto a gustare la più grande felicità.”

“E chi siete dunque?""Sono colui che avete venduto, denunciato, disonorato; sono colui al quale avete prostituito la fidanzata; sono colui che avete calpestato per fare fortuna; sono colui al quale avete fatto morire il padre di fame; sono colui che vi aveva condannato a morire di fame e che invece vi perdona, perché egli stesso ha bisogno di perdonare: sono Edmond Dantès!”

“Orsù dunque, uomo rigenerato, orsù ricco stravagante, orsù sognatore, potente visionario, orsù milionario invincibile, riprendi per un istante questa funesta prospettiva della tua vita miserabile e affamata, ripassa per il sentiero in cui ti ha spinto la fatalità, in cui ti ha condotto la cattiva sorte, in cui ti ha ricevuto la disperazione!Troppi diamanti, troppo oro, troppa felicità si riflettono oggi sul cristallo di questo specchio da cui Montecristo guarda Dantès. Nascondi questi diamanti, imbratta quest'oro, cancella questi raggi; ricco, ritrova il povero, libero, ritrova il prigioniero; resuscitato, ritrova il cadavere.”

“God may seem sometimes to forget for a while, whilst his justice reposes, but there always comes a moment when he remembers.”

“Insensato! disse. "Dovevo strapparmi il cuore il giorno in cui decisi di vendicarmi!”

“Why does a steward steal? He steals because he's not sure he'll always remain with his master and wants to make his future secure.”

“It's easy to be friends with when shares the same opinions.”

“Melancholy in a capitalist, like the appearance of a comet, presages some misfortune to the world.”

“the greater number of a man's errors come before him disguised under the specious form of necessity; then, after error has been committed in a moment of excitement, of delirium, or of fear, we see that we might have avoided and escaped it.”

“Death is the only serious preoccupation in life.”

“To wait at Monte Cristo for the purpose of watching like a dragon over the almost incalculable richs that had thus fallen into his possession satisfied not the cravings of his heart, which yearned to return to dwell among mankind, and to assume the rank, power, and influence which are always accorded to wealth — that first and greatest of all the forces within the grasp of man.”

“Dantes had entered the Chateau d’If with the round, open, smiling face of a young and happy man, with whom the earlypaths of life have been smooth. and who anticipates a future corresponding with his past. This was now all changed. The oval face was lengthened, his smiling mouth had assumed the firm and markedlines which betoken resolution; his eyebrows were arched beneath a brow furrowed with thought; his eyes were full of melancholy, and from their depths occasionally sparkled gloomy fires of misanthropy and hatred; his complexion, so long kept from the sun, had now that pale color which produces, when the features are encircled with black hair, the aristocratic beauty of the man of the north; the profound learning he had acquired had besides diffused over his features a refined intellectual expression; and he had also acquired, being naturally of a goodly stature, that vigor which a frame possesses which has so long concentrated all its force within itself.”

“Drunk, if you like; so much the worse for those who fear wine, for it is because they have bad thoughts which they are afraid the liquor will extract from their hearts;" and Caderousse began to sing the two last lines of a song very popular at the time, —”

“Ti inganni mio signore, io non amavo mio padre come amo te; il mio amore per te è un altro amore: mio padre è morto e io non sono morta, mentre se tu morissi io pure morirei.”

“He who has a partner has a master.”

“Oh, certainly, death, sudden and violent, was a good way to foil his implacable enemies, who seemed to be pursuing him with some incomprehensible desire for vengeance. Yes, but that meant dying!”

“The worthy officer had just given birth to this high-sounding adverb...”

“Il mio regno è grande come il mondo, perché non sono né italiano né francese né indiano né americano né spagnolo: io sono cosmopolita. Nessun paese può dire di avermi visto nascere; Dio solo sa quale terra mi vedrà morire. Io adotto tutti i costumi, parlo tutte le lingue; [...] Dunque capirete che non essendo di alcun paese, non domandando protezione, non riconoscendo alcun uomo per mio fratello, non un solo scrupolo che arresta i potenti, non un solo ostacolo che paralizza i deboli, può arrestarmi e paralizzarmi. Ho solo due avversari, non dico due vincitori, perché li sottometto con la tenacia: la distanza e il tempo. Il terzo, ed è il più terribile, sta nella mia condizione di mortale. Ciò solo può fermarmi nella strada che percorro, e prima che abbia conseguito lo scopo a cui miro; tutto il resto l'ho calcolato. Ciò che gli uomini chiamano capricci della fortuna, ossia la rovina, i cambiamenti, le eventualità, li ho previsti tutti, e se qualcuno può colpirmi, nessuno può rovesciarmi. A meno che non muoia, sarò sempre ciò che sono.”

“God is merciful to all, as he has been to you; he is first a father, then a judge.”

“...joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow.”

“-[...] comme vous me paraissez amateur; car lorsque je suis entré vous regardiez mes tableaux, je vous demande la permission de vous faire voir ma galerie : tous tableaux anciens, tous tableaux de maîtres garantis comme tels ; je n'aime pas les modernes.-Vous avez raison, monsieur, car ils ont en général un grand défaut : c'est celui de n'avoir pas encore eu le temps de devenir des anciens.”

“Dove troverete, ditemi, un amore simile al mio, un amore che né il tempo, né la lontananza, né la disperazione possono spegnere; un amore che si accontenta di un nastro smarrito, di uno sguardo perduto, di una parola sfuggita?”

“No ho l'uniforme, ma ho lo spirito. Il mio cuore è moschettiere e mi trascina.”

“You're not worried about anything, are you?" said Danglers. "It seems to me everything's going perfectly for you." "That's exactly what worries me," replied Dantes. "I don't think man was meant to attain happiness so easily. Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.”

“What a fool I was, not to tear my heart out on the day when I resolved to avenge myself!”

“Come, then, thou regenerate man, thou extravagant prodigal, thou awakened sleeper, thou all-powerful visionary, thou invincible millionaire,--once again review thy past life of starvation and wretchedness, revisit the scenes where fate and misfortune conducted, and where despair received thee. Too many diamonds, too much gold and splendor, are now reflected by the mirror in which Monte Cristo seeks to behold Dantes. Hide thy diamonds, bury thy gold, shroud thy splendor, exchange riches for poverty, liberty for a prison, a living body for a corpse!”

“It was a strange thing: one never appeared to take a step forward int he heart or mind of this man. Those who wished, so to speak, to force their way into intimacy with him found the path blocked.”

“Shall we make a positive appointment for a particular day and hour?" inquired the count; "only let me warn you that I am proverbial for my punctilious exactitude in keeping my engagements.”

“Sometimes salvation is found in agony.”

“And he at once determined on going to find Gilbert, who was residing at Versailles, but who, without having revisited the queen after the journey of the king to Paris, had become the right hand of Necker, who had been reappointed minister, and was endeavoring to organize prosperity by generalizing poverty.”

“Odkąd chrześcijaństwo wniosło swój wkład w rozwój cywilizacji w Rzymie, zamiast centuriona pojawiającego się na polecenie tyrana, aby rzec: "Cesarz pragnie, abyś umarł", przybywał legat, który z promiennym uśmiechem oznajmiał ci polecenie papieża: "Jego Świątobliwość pragnie, abyś przybył do niego na ucztę".”

“Che cosa è la morte per me? Un grado di più nella calma, e forse due nel silenzio.”

“La vita è un rosario di piccole miserie, che il filosofo sgrana ridendo. Siate filosofi come me signori: mettevi a tavola e beviamo: l'avvenire non sembra mai così roseo, come quando lo si guarda attraverso un bicchiere di chambertin”

“[...]In politica, caro mio, lo sapete quanto me, non ci sono uomini, ma idee; non sentimenti, ma interessi; in politica non si uccide un uomo: si elimina un ostacolo, ecco tutto.”

“[...]ma il cuore della donna è così fatto, che per quanto diventi arido al soffio dei pregiudizi o alle esigenze dell'etichetta, mantiene sempre un angolo fertile e ridente: quello che Dio ha consacrato all'amore materno.”

“Ho sempre avuto più paura di una penna, di una bottiglietta d’inchiostro e di un foglio di carta che non di una spada o di una pistola.”

“Good fortune is the best of all mistresses.”

“let us call on M. de Monte Cristo; he is admirably adapted to revive one's spirits, because he never interrogates, and in my opinion those who ask no questions are the best comforters.”

“You instinctively display the greatest virtue, or rather the chief defect, of us eccentric Parisians- that is, you assume the vices you have not, and conceal the virtues you possess.”

“Danglers alone was content and joyous, he had got rid of an enemy and preserved his situation on board the Pharaon; Danglers was one of those men born with a pen behind the ear, and an ink-stand in place of a heart. Everything with him was multiplication or subtraction, and he estimated the life of a man as less precious than a figure, when that figure could increase, and that life would diminish, the total of the amount.”

“I regret having helped you clarify your past and having told you what I did.''Why?''Because I've instilled in your heart a feeling that wasn't there before: vengeance.”

“If you wish to discover the guilty person, first find out to whom the crime might be useful.”

“You were able to wait,' said Dantes, sighing. 'Your long labor gave you a constant occupation, and when you didn't have your work to distract you, you had your hopes to console you.”

“A man is always in a hurry to be happy.”

“I'm not proud, but I'm happy, and I think happiness makes a man even blinder than pride.”