Alexandre Dumas Quotes

“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.”

“All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.”

“There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body's sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever.”

“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”

“Women are never so strong as after their defeat.”

“On what slender threads do life and fortune hang.”

“Tell the angel who will watch over your life to pray now and then for a man who, like Satan, believed himself for an instant to be equal to God, but who realized in all humility that supreme power and wisdom are in the hands of God alone.”

“I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.”

“I love the life you've always made so sweet for me and I'd regret it if I had to die.'
'Do you mean to say that if I left you---'
'I'd die, yes.'
'Then you love me?”

“What I’ve loved most after you, is myself: that is, my dignity and that strength which made me superior to other men. That Strength was my life. You’ve broken it with a word, so I must die.”

“Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together: at the door where the latter enters, the former makes its exit.”

“…… When one loves, one is only too ready to believe one's love returned.”

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

“Woman is sacred; the woman one loves is holy.”

“Love is the most selfish of all the passions.”

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

“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.”

“All human wisdom is contained in these words: Wait and hope!”

“How did I escape? With difficulty. How did I plan this moment? With pleasure.”

“The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of dates.”

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

“Learn ever to separate the king and the principle of royalty. The king is but man; royalty is the spirit of God.”

“Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.”

“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.”

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

“We are always in a hurry to be happy…; for when we have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune.”

“Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another”

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

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

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

“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.”

“Abbe Faria: Here is your final lesson - do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, Vengeance is mine.
Edmond Dantes: I don't believe in God.
Abbe Faria: It doesn't matter. He believes in you.”

“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.”

“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.”

“You are very amiable, no doubt, but you would be charming if you would only depart.”

“… The friends we have lost do not repose under the ground… they are buried deep in our hearts. It has been thus ordained that they may always accompany us…”

“All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall.”

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

“To learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the others.”

“Hatred is blind; rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught.”

“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.”

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

“The merit of all things lies in their difficulty.”

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

“Philosophy cannot be taught; it is the application of the sciences to truth.”

“How is it that little children are so intelligent and men so stupid? It must be education that does it”

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

“D’Artagnan: Why is Athos sitting by himself?
Aramis: He takes his drinking very seriously. Not to worry, he’ll be his usual charming self by morning.”

“Rogues are preferable to imbeciles because sometimes they take a rest.”

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

“… but my friends call me Edmund Dantes.”

“A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself.”

“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.”

“A weakened mind always sees everything through a black veil. The soul makes its own horizons; your soul is dark, which is why you see such a cloudy sky.”

“And now, farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude… I have substituted myself for Providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked.”

“So rapid is the flight of dreams upon the wings of imagination.”

“Be kind, aim for my heart.”

“Haste is a poor counselor”

“There is no friendship that cares about an overheard secret.”

“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.”

“Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.”

“I am hungry, feed me; I am bored, amuse me.”

“Life is a storm. One minute you will bathe under the sun and the next you will be shattered upon the rocks. That's when you shout, "Do your worst, for I will do mine!" and you will be remembered forever.”

“For there are two distinct sorts of ideas: Those that proceed from the head and those that emanate from the heart.”

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

“… know you not that you are my sun by day, and my star by night? By my faith! I was in deepest darkness till you appeared and illuminated all.”