Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the...

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.

Misfortune is needed to plumb certain mysterious depths in the understanding of men; pressure is needed to explode the charge. My captivity concentrated all my faculties on a single point.

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…

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

Everyone knows that God protects drunkards and lovers.

Mastery of language affords one remarkable opportunities.

Sleeping on a plank has one advantage – it encourages early rising.

The King! I thought him enough of a philosopher to realize that there is no such thing as murder in politics. You know as well as I do, my dear boy, that in politics there...

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

How well I know you by your deeds and how invariably you succeed in living down to what one expects of you!

Darling, has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? Wait and hope.

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.

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...

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

Unfortunates, who ought to begin with God, do not have any hope in him till they have exhausted all other means of deliverance.

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.

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...

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.

The king! I thought he was philosopher enough to allow that there was no murder in politics. In politics, my dear fellow, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas...

Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.

Oh, yes, yes, I bless you in my own name, and in the name of three generations of irreproachable men, who say through me, “The edifice which misfortune has destroyed, Providence may build up again.”...

I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride.

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...

How strange,” continued the king, with some asperity; “the police think that they have disposed of the whole matter when they say, ‘A murder has been committed,’ and especially so when they can add, ‘And...

The dream of poor Bazin had always been to serve a man of the cloth.

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. (The Count...

Athos was delighted to find he was going to fight an Englishman. We might say that was his dream.

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.

I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.

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...

No one is as brave, as adventurous or as skillful as D’Artagnan, without at the same time being inclined to be a dreamer.

Enough,’ said Mercedes, ‘enough Edmond! Believe me that she who alone recognized you has been the only one to comprehend you. And had she crossed your path, and you had crushed her like a frail...

Happiness is like those palaces in fairytales whose gates are guarded by dragons: We must fight in order to conquer it.

Can we account for instinct?’ said Monte Cristo. ‘Are there not some places where we seem to breathe sadness? — why, we cannot tell. It is a chain of recollections — an idea which carries...

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.

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

My dear fellow ” Said Albert, turning to Franz ” here is an admirable adventure; we will fill our carriage with pistols, blunderbusses, and double-barreled shotguns. Luigi Vampa comes to take us, and we take...

Luego, dirigiendo una postrer mirada sobre aquel apuesto joven, que tendría lo más veinticinco años y a quien dejaba anegado en su sangre, privado de sentido y quizá muerto, suspiró pensando en el extraño destino...

«Fernand! – gridò Montecristo, – dei miei cento nomi non avrei bisogno di dirtene che uno solo per fulminarti; ma questo nome tu lo indovini, non è vero? o piuttosto te lo ricordi? perché malgrado...

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...

We are entitled to violate history, provided that it results in handsome offspring.

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...

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.

He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.

In business, sir, one has no friends, only correspondents.

This sometimes happened: from time to time, Dantès, driven out of solitude into the world, felt an imperative need for solitude. And what solitude is more vast and more poetic than that of a ship...

If it is ones lot to be cast among fools, one must learn foolishness.-The Count of Monte Cristo

I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol.

Nothing makes time pass or shortens the way like a thought that absorbs in itself all the faculties of the one who is thinking. External existence is then like a sleep of which this thought...