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

that Englishman who came to challenge me three or four months ago, and whom I killed to stop him bothering me

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.

You who are in power have only the means that money produces — we who are in expectation, have those which devotion prompts.

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.

...joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow.

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.