Can we account for instinct?' said Monte Cristo. 'Are there not some places where we seem to breathe sadness? - why, we cannot tell. It is a chain of recollections - an idea which carries you back to...

So far, then, said Danglars, mentally, all has gone as I would have it. I am, temporarily, commander of the Pharaon, with the certainty of being permanently so, if that fool of a Caderousse can be...

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...

She is not my mistress,' replied the young sailor gravely, 'she is my betrothed.''Sometimes one and the same thing,' said Morrel, with a smile.'Not with us, sir,' replied Dantes.

Philosophy cannot be taught; it is the application of the sciences to truth; it is like the golden cloud in which the Messiah went up into heaven.

We are all mortal, and the old must make way for the young. If not, why, there would be no promotion.

for the unfortunate man never alluded to his own sorrows.

He told himself that it was the enmity of man, and not the vengeance of heaven, that had thus plunged him into the deepest misery.

Man does not appear to me to be intended to enjoy felicity so unmixed; happiness is like the enchanted palaces we read of in our childhood, where fierce, fiery dragons defend the entrance and...

You posses a quality which can never belong to Mademoiselle Danglars. It is that indefinable charm which is to a woman what perfume is to the flower and flavor to the fruit, for beauty of either is...

I was delighted to see you again, and forgot for the moment that all happiness is fleeting.

There are men who have suffered and who have not only gone on living, but even built a new fortune on the ruins of their former happiness. From the depths into which their enemies have plunged them,...

Happiness even makes the wicked good.

...but he laughed as the English do at the end of his teeth.

...paleness is always looked upon as a strong proof of aristocratic descent and distinguished breeding.

Do you think that, if I did, I would lead you to the answer inch by inch, like a dramatist or a novelist?

But the kings of modern times, restrained by the limits of mere probability, have neither courage nor desire. They fear the eat that hears their orders, and the eye that scrutinizes their actions.

Armed to the teeth?" "He had not even a knitting-needle.

Yes, you are baron for the servants, ladies for journalists, citizen for your voters. They are shades that adapt a lot to a constitutional government. I understand perfectly.

let us call on M. de Monte Cristo; he is admirably adapted to revive one's spirits, because he never interrogates, and in my opinion those who ask no questions are the best comforters.

One must ask for death to know how good it is to live

God may seem sometimes to forget for a while, whilst his justice reposes, but there always comes a moment when he remembers.

Shall we make a positive appointment for a particular day and hour? inquired the count; only let me warn you that I am proverbial for my punctilious exactitude in keeping my engagements.

My opinion is, that all these old podestas, these ancient condottieri, - for the Cavalcanti have commanded armies and governed provinces, - my opinion, I say, is, that they have buried their millions...

The heart breaks when it has swelled too much in the warm breath of hope, then finds itself enclosed in cold reality.

What tender threads do life and death hang

Melancholy in a capitalist, like the appearance of a comet, presages some misfortune to the world.

Happy! who can answer for that? Happiness or unhappiness is the secret known but to oneself…

Those who are born in a gilt cradle and have never wanted for anything, do not know what happiness life contains, just as they do not appreciate to the full a clear sky who have never entrusted their...

And how did this misfortune occur? inquired the latter, resuming the interrupted conversation.