Quotes from book
The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas Original title Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (French, 1844)

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet. Another important work by Dumas, written before his work with Maquet, was the short novel Georges; this novel is of particular interest to scholars because Dumas reused many of the ideas and plot devices later in The Count of Monte Cristo.The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839: the era of the Bourbon Restoration through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. It begins just before the Hundred Days period . The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. His plans have devastating consequences for both the innocent and the guilty.

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“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 117 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Count_of_Monte_Cristo/Chapter_117
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo (1845–1846)
Context: Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man who, like Satan, thought himself, for an instant, equal to God; but who now acknowledges, with Christian humility, that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom... There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.

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“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas photo

“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.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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“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.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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“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.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: ... for there are two distinct sorts of ideas, those that proceed from the head and those that emanate from the heart.
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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“Pain, thou art not an evil”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas photo

“It is the infirmity of our nature always to believe ourselves much more unhappy than those who groan by our sides!”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas photo

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

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: What a fool I was, not to tear my heart out on the day when I resolved to avenge myself!
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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“Upon my word," said Dantes, "you make me shudder. Is the world filled with tigers and crocodiles?"

"Yes; and remember that two legged tigers and crocodiles are more dangerous than the others.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas photo

“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.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas photo

“We frequently pass so near to happiness without seeing, without regarding it, or if we do see and regard it, yet without recognizing it.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Variant: Often we pass beside happiness without seeing it, without looking at it, or even if we have seen and looked at it, without recognizing it.
Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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“… but my friends call me Edmund Dantes.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas photo

“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.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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“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.”

Alexandre Dumas book The Count of Monte Cristo

Source: The Count of Monte Cristo

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