100 Top Quotes By Alexandre Dumas, The Author Of The Three Musketeers

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

Think

  

All human wisdom is contained in these two words - Wait and Hope

  

Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.

Never

  

Woman is sacred; the woman one loves is holy.

  

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

  

Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.

Life

  

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

  

All human wisdom is contained in these two words--"Wait and Hope.

  

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

  

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.

  

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

  

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

Time

  

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.

Life , Never

  

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

  

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.

  

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.

Time

  

Women are never so strong as after their defeat.

Never

  

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

  

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

Like

  

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

Never

  

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.

  

All for one and one for all.

  

True love always makes a man better, no matter what woman inspires it.

  

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.

  

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

  

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.

  

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

Never

  

...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...

  

Love is the most selfish of all the passions.

  

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.

Life , Me

  

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

  

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.

Like , Think

  

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

  

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.

  

So much the worse for those who fear wine, for it is because they have some 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!

Like , Me

  

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

  

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

  

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

Life

  

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

  

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

  

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.

  

...but my friends call me Edmund Dantes.

Me

  

I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.

Life

  

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

  

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

Like

  

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

  

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.

Like

  

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.

Me

  

Haste is a poor counselor

  

Be kind, aim for my heart.

  

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

Me

  

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

  

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.

Like

  

...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.

  

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

  

And now gentlemen, all for one, one for all - that is our motto, is it not?

  

There is no friendship that cares about an overheard secret.

  

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.

Experience

  

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

  

But Valentine, why despair, why always paint the future in such sombre hues?" Maximilien asked. "Because, my friend, I judge it by the past.

Past

  

Everyone knows that drunkards and lovers have a protecting diety.

  

Order is the key to all problems.

  

The wretched and the miserable should turn to their Savior first, yet they do not hope in Him until all other hope is exhausted.

  

Pain, thou art not an evil

  

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

  

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.

  

On what slender threads do life and fortune hang.

Life

  

Mastery of language affords one remarkable opportunities.

  

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

  

I'm sure you're very nice, but you'd be even nicer if you went away.

  

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.

Never

  

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

  

Everyone knows that God protects drunkards and lovers.

  

I am a Count, Not a Saint.

  

Youth is a blossom whose fruit is love; happy is he who plucks it after watching it slowly ripen.

  

In politics, my dear fellow, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas — no feelings, but interests; in politics we do not kill a man, we only remove an obstacle, that is all.

  

Your life story is a novel; and people, though they love novels wound between two yellow paper covers, are oddly suspicious of those which come to them in living vellum.

Life

  

Within six months, if I am not dead, I shall have seen you again, madam--even if I have to overturn the world.

  

It is only the dead who do not return.

  

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

Experience

  

If it is ones lot to be cast among fools, one must learn foolishness.

  

If you wish to discover the guilty person, first find out to whom the crime might be useful.

  

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.

Never

  

God is full of mercy for everyone, as He has been towards you. He is a father before He is a judge.

  

All falsehood is a mask; and however well made the mask may be, with a little attention we may always succeed in distinguishing it from the true face.

  

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

  

It is not the tree that forsakes the flower, but the flower that forsakes the tree.

  

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

  

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?

Life , Me

  

No, I slept as I always do when I am bored and have not the courage to amuse myself, or when I am hungry and have not the desire to eat.--The Count of Monte Cristo

  

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

  

Ah," said the jailer, "do not always brood over what is impossible, or you will be mad in a fortnight.