Alexandre Dumas Quotes

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

God is always the last resource.

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.

I prefer the wicked rather than the foolish. The wicked sometimes rest.

The air in Provence is impregnated with the aroma of garlic, which makes it very healthful to breathe.

Dantes passed through all the stages of torture natural to prisoners in suspense. He was sustained at first by that pride of conscious innocence which is the sequence to hope; then he began to doubt his own innocence, which justified in some measure the governor's belief in his mental alienation; and then, relaxing his sentiment of pride, he addressed his supplications, not to God, but to man. God is always the last resource. Unfortunates, who ought to begin with God, do not have any hope in him till they have exhausted all other means of deliverance.

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.

In love, writing is dangerous, not to mention pointless.

In every country where independence has taken the place of liberty, the first desire of a manly heart is to possess a weapon which at once renders him capable of defence or attack, and, by rendering its owner fearsome, makes him feared.

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.

It is almost as difficult to keep a first class person in a fourth class job, as it is to keep a fourth class person in a first class job.

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 of those projects which require rapid decision, and vigorous and determined execution. In reality, when you have once devoted your life to your enterprises, you are no longer the equal of other men, or, rather, other men are no longer your equals, and whosoever has taken this resolution, feels his strength and resources doubled.

There is no friendship that cares about an overheard secret.

Great is truth. Fire cannot burn it nor water drown it.

(...) the tree forsakes not the flower: the flower falls from the tree.

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.

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

It was like the eve of a battle; the hearts beat, the eyes laughed, and they felft that the life they were perhaps going to lose, was after all, a good thing.

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

Haste is a poor counselor

It is only the dead who do not return.

In this world, all--men, women, and kings--must live for the present. We can only live for the future for God

We are never quits with those who oblige us," was Dantes' reply; "for when we do not owe them money, we owe them gratitude.

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.

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

Wait and hope!

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.

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

That is a dream also; only he has remained asleep, while you have awakened; and who knows which of you is the most fortunate?

You who weep for pleasures fled, While dragging on a life of care, All your woes will melt in air, If to god your tears are shed, You who Weap!

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.

Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.

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

What a fool I was, not to tear my heart out on the day when I resolved to revenge myself!

Order is the key to all problems.

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

So rapid is the flight of our dreams upon the wings of imagination.

There are misfortunes in life that no one will accept; people would rather believe in the supernatural and the impossible.

There are some situations which men understand by instinct, by which reason is powerless to explain; in such cases the greatest poet is he who gives utterance to the most natural and vehement outburst of sorrow. Those who hear the bitter cry are as much impressed as if they listened to an entire poem, and when th sufferer is sincere they are right in regarding his outburst as sublime.

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

Does the open wound in another's breast soften the pain of the gaping wound in our own? Or does the blood which is welling from another man's side staunch that which is pouring from our own? Does the general anguish of our fellow creatures lessen our own private and particular anguish? No, no, each suffers on his own account, each struggles with his own grief, each sheds his own tears.

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.

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

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

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

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.

When a man resolves to avenge himself, he should first of all tear out the heart from his breast.

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 ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.