Alexandre Dumas

“There are misfortunes in life that no one will accept; people would rather believe in the supernatural and the impossible.”

“A man is held to be criminal,sometimes, by the great ones of the earth,not because he has committed a crime himself but because he knows of one which has been committed.”

“The hungry men were seen, followed by their valets, roaming the quais and guards' quarters; gleaning from their outside friends all the dinners they could find; for, according to Aramis, in prosperity one should sow meals right and left, in order to harvest some in adversity.”

“Les heures n'existent pas pour un homme ivre qui n'a pas de montre.”

“Upon my word,' said Dantes, 'you make me tremble. If I listen much longer to you, I shall believe the world is filled with tigers and crocodiles.''Remember that two-legged tigers and crocodiles are more dangerous than those that walk on four.”

“Every individual, from the highest to the lowest degree, has his place in the ladder of social life, and around him swirls a little world of interests, composed of stormy passions and conflicting atoms”

“...the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; it needs trouble and difficulty and danger to hollow out various mysterious and hidden mines of human intelligence. Pressure is required, you know, to ignite powder: captivity has collected into one single focus all the floating faculties of my mind; they have come into close contact in the narrow space in which they have been wedged. You know that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced and from electricity comes the lightning from whose flash we have light amid our greatest darkness.”

“A rogue does not laugh in the same way that an honest man does; a hypocrite does not shed the tears of a man of good faith. All falsehood is a mask; and however well made the mask may be, with a little attention we may always succeed in distinguishing it from the true face.”

“...for there are two distinct sorts of ideas, those that proceed from the head and those that emanate from the heart.”

“...for, however all other feelings may be withered in a woman's nature, there is always one bright smiling spot in the maternal breast, and that is where a dearly-beloved child is concerned.”

“...remember that what has once been done may be done again.”

“What the deuce does the fellow mean by getting trap-doors made without first consulting you? Trap-doors!”

“I have always heard it said that that is the rarest service, but the easiest to render. The remark struck me; I like to cite remarks that strike me.”

“I am orderly out of spirit of idleness, to save myself the trouble of looking after things...”

“True, I have raped history, but it has produced some beautiful offspring.”

“l'action et l'amour”

“And now gentlemen, all for one, one for all - that is our motto, is it not?”

“Coconnas : "...et que pour être querellé , j'aime mieux encore l'être par de jolies lèvres comme les vôtres que par une bouche de travers comme la sienne.”

“I am a Count, Not a Saint.”

“What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?""Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced — from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination.”

“For all evils there are two remedies - time and silence.”

“Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.”

“If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself. ”

“All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.”

“Everyone knows that drunkards and lovers have a protecting diety.”

“Why do you mention my father?' screamed he; 'Why do you mingle a recollection of him with the affairs of today?'Because I am he who saved your father's life when he wished to destroy himself, as you do today-because I am the man who sent the purse to your young sister, and the Paraon to Old Morrel-because I am the Edmond Dantes who nursed you, a child, on my knees.”

“So much the worse for those who fear wine, for it is because they have some bad thoughts which they are afraid the liquor will extract from their hearts.”

“Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,-Wait and hope.”

“I prefer the wicked rather than the foolish. The wicked sometimes rest.”

“I am strong against everything, except against the death of those I love. He who dies gains; he who sees others die loses.”

“No, I slept as I always do when I am bored and have not the courage to amuse myself, or when I am hungry and have not the desire to eat.--The Count of Monte Cristo”

“Mastery of language affords one remarkable opportunities.”

“In every country where independence has taken the place of liberty, the first desire of a manly heart is to possess a weapon which at once renders him capable of defence or attack, and, by rendering its owner fearsome, makes him feared.”

“Happiness is egotistical.”

“As a general rule...people ask for advice only in order not to follow it; or if they do follow it, in order to have someone to blame for giving it.”

“Sometimes one has suffered enough to have the right to never say: I am too happy.”

“Misfortune does not help us to believe. ”

“I'd rather have ten soldiers to guard than a single scholar.”

“You scholars, you're in communication with the devil.”

“There are some catastrophes that a poor writer's pen cannot describe and which he is obliged to leave to the imagination of his readers with a bald statement of the facts.”

“Fool that I am," said he,"that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself".”

“God orders a man to do all he can to save his life.”

“It is quite rare for God to provide a great man at the necessary moment to carry out some great deep, which is why when this unusual combination of circumstance does occur, history at once records the name of the chosen one and recommends him to the admiration of posterity. ”

“Life is very tenacious in these lawyers.”

“One's work may be finished someday, but one's education never.”

“...but my friends call me Edmund Dantes.”

“Now I'd like someone to tell me there is no drama in real life!”

“Learning does not make one learned: there are those who have knowledge and those who have understanding. The first requires memory and the second philosophy.”

“Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.”

“So, preferring death to capture, I accomplished the most astonishing deeds, and which, more then once, showed me that the too great care we take of our bodies is the only obstacle to the sucess of those projects which require rapid decision, and vigorous and determined execution. In reality, when you have once devoted your life to your enterprises, you are no longer the equal of other men, or, rather, other men are no longer your equals, and whosoever has taken this resolution, feels his strength and resources doubled.”