True love always makes a man better, no matter what woman inspires it.
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.
When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.
I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.
How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it
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.
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.
To learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the others.
Il y a les sachants et les savants: c’est la mémoire qui fait les uns, c’est la philosophie qui fait les autres. La philosophie ne s’apprend pas; la philosophie est la réunion des sciences acquises au génie qui les applique.
For the happy man prayer is only a jumble of words, until the day when sorrow comes to explain to him the sublime language by means of which he speaks to God.
Everyone knows that God protects drunkards and lovers.
Unfortunates, who ought to begin with God, do not have any hope in him till they have exhausted all other means of deliverance.
God, who might have directed the assassin’s dagger so as to end your career in a moment, has given you this quarter of an hour for repentance. Reflect, then, wretched man, and repent.
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.
Darling, has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? Wait and hope.
After which, satisfied with the way he had conducted himself at Meung, free of remorse for the past, confident in the present, and full of hope for the future, he went to bed and slept the sleep of the just.
Never be afraid of opportunities, always be on the lookout for adventures.
I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride.
Happiness is like those palaces in fairytales whose gates are guarded by dragons: We must fight in order to conquer it.
He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.
There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more.
That is a dream also; only he has remained asleep, while you have awakened; and who knows which of you is the most fortunate?
I began a poem in lines of one syllable. It’s rather difficult, but the merit of all things lies in their difficulty. The subject matter is gallant. I’ll read you the first canto; it’s four hundred verses long and takes one minute.
It is necessary … to yield to the storm, purchase a peace, and wait patiently for better times.
I never swear, Monseigneur. I say Yes or No, and as I am a gentleman, I keep my word.
I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol.
In all times, and all countries especially in those countries which are divided within by religious faith, there are always fanatics who will be well contented to be regarded as martyrs.
A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failures certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.
The truth is that you are afraid.”Afraid? I do not know all the words in the Parisian jargon, and I know not what you mean.
There is no friendship that cares about an overheard secret.
Friendship throws out deep roots in honest hearts, D’Artagnan. Believe me, it is only the evil-minded who deny friendship; they cannot understand it.
In politics, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas – no feelings, but interests.
How singular,” murmured Maximillian; “your father hates me, while your grandfather, on the contrary — What strange feelings are aroused by politics.
we said we would be to each other as two voices, who shadows.
D’Artagnan had time to reflect that women – those gentle doves – treat one another more cruelly than bears and tigers.
You are perfectly right in objecting to them [modern art], for this one great fault – that they have not yet had time to become old.
We are entitled to violate history, provided that it results in handsome offspring.
To save a man and thereby to spare a father’s agony and a mother’s feelings is not to do a noble deed, it is but an act of humanity.
But these first needs of the heart are so imperious, these outpourings of amorous melancholy in young people are at once so sweet and so bitter, that they have often all the real marks of the passion.
Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.
We must never expect discretion in first love: it is accompanied by such excessive joy that unless the joy is allowed to overflow, it will choke you.
I was delighted to see you again, and forgot for the moment that all happiness is fleeting.
The truth is,’ replied Dantes, ‘that I am too happy for noisy mirth; …joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow.
Let me struggle like a woman- my strength lies in my weakness. – Milady
My friend, let us enjoy the present and give no thought to the evils of the future.
There are words which close a conversation as with an iron door.
So rapid is the flight of dreams upon the wings of imagination.
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.
In business, sir, one has no friends, only correspondents.
Athos was delighted to find he was going to fight an Englishman. We might say that was his dream.
MY GOD!’ read Monte Cristo, ‘LET ME KEEP MY MEMORY!
There is something so awe-inspiring in great afflictions that even in the worst times the first emotion of a crowd has generally been to sympathise with the sufferer in a great catastrophe.
Sometimes one has suffered enough to have the right to never say: I am too happy.
Life is no more than the repeated fulfilling of a permanent desire.
Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.
No one is as brave, as adventurous or as skillful as D’Artagnan, without at the same time being inclined to be a dreamer.
Mastery of language affords one remarkable opportunities.
For Milady was well aware that her most seductive power was in her voice, which could run skilfully through the whole scale of tones, from mortal speech, upwards to the language of heaven.
You are my son Dantés! You are the child of my captivity. My priestly office condemned me to celibacy: God sent you to me both to console the man who could not be a father and the prisoner who could not be free
You are young,” replied Athos, “and your bitter memories have time to change into sweet ones.
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.
Besides, we feel always a sort of mental superiority over those whose lives we know better than they suppose.
The voice of human nature is nothing but one prolonged cry.
God may seem sometimes to forget for a while, whilst his justice reposes, but there always comes a moment when he remembers.
God is merciful to all, as he has been to you; he is first a father, then a judge.
Be happy, noble heart, be blessed for all the good thou hast done and wilt do hereafter, and let my gratitude remain in obscurity like your good deeds.
Unfortunately in this world of ours, each person views things through a certain medium, which prevents his seeing them in the same light as others…
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.
Happy! who can answer for that? Happiness or unhappiness is the secret known but to oneself…
…remember that what has once been done may be done again.
Very well, young man, very well,” Treville went on, “I know those airs. I came to Paris with four ecus in my pocket, and I’d have fought with anybody who told me I was in no condition to buy the Louvre.
The dream of poor Bazin had always been to serve a man of the cloth.
Is not a day divided into twenty-four hours, each hour into sixty minutes, and every minute sub-divided into sixty seconds? Now in 86,400 seconds many things can be done.
I have no fear of ghosts, and I have never heard it said that so much harm had been done by the dead during 6,000 years as it brought by the living in a single day.
Fool that I am,” said he,”that I did not tear out my heart the day I resolved to revenge myself”.
How well I know you by your deeds and how invariably you succeed in living down to what one expects of you!
these groups followed some solitary passer-by, hurrying his steps; one after another the doors were closed, one after
Human inventions march from thecomplex to the simple, and simplicity is always perfection.
All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall.
Besides the pleasure, there is always remorse, from the indulgence of our passions; and, after all, what have you men to fear from all this; the world excuses, and notoriety ennobles you?
True, I have raped history, but it has produced some beautiful offspring.
She is not my mistress,’ replied the young sailor gravely, ‘she is my betrothed.’’Sometimes one and the same thing,’ said Morrel, with a smile.’Not with us, sir,’ replied Dantes.
If it is ones lot to be cast among fools, one must learn foolishness.
Ah, Caderousse,’ said Andrea, ‘how covetous you are! Two months ago you were dying with hunger.”The appetite grows by what it feeds on,’ said Caderousse.
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.
Through the ingenuousness of her age beamed an ardent mind, a mind not of the women but of the poet; she did not please, she intoxicated.
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.
Melancholy in a capitalist, like the appearance of a comet, presages some misfortune to the world.
I do as I please, Monsieur Beauchamp, and believe me, what I do is always well done.
I do what I please, M. Beauchamp, and it is always well done.
All human wisdom is contained in these two words: ‘wait’ and ‘hope'”.
Oh, mankind, race of crocodiles! How well I recognize you down there, and how worthy you are of yourselves!
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.
Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle.
How did I escape? With difficulty. How did I plan this moment? With pleasure.
Business? It’s quite simple. It’s other people’s money.
So heavy is the chain of wedlock that it needs two to carry it and sometimes three.
All human wisdom is summed up in two words: wait and hope.
A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself.
All human wisdom is summed up in two words-wait and hope.
A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.
All human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.
At Rome thing can or cannot be done when you are told anything cannot be done, there is an end of it.””It is much more convenient at Paris; when anything cannot be done you pay double and it is done directly
However anxious one is to reach one’s goal, one can excuse delays on the route when these are caused by ovations.
Business? It’s quite simple it’s other people’s money.
All human wisdom is summed up in two words wait and hope.
A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.
It is neccessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.
Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.
Infatuated, half through conceit, half through love of my art, I achieve the impossible working as no one else ever works.
How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it.