The Count of Monte Cristo quotes

Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that 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.’

— Spoken by a character · 117. The Fifth of October

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more.

— Spoken by a character · 117. The Fifth of October

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

— Spoken by a character · 45. The Rain of Blood

“We are never quits with those who oblige us,” was Dantès’ reply; “for when we do not owe them money, we owe them gratitude.”

— Spoken by a character · 2. Father and Son

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

— Dantès · 3. The Catalans

We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.

— Spoken by a character · 117. The Fifth of October

Private misfortunes must never be allowed to interfere with business.

— Spoken by a character · 5. The Marriage Feast

“Not their application, certainly, but their principles you may; to learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.”

— Spoken by a character · 17. The Abbé’s Chamber

“How strange,” continued the king, with some asperity; “the police think that they have disposed of the whole matter when they say, ‘A murder has been committed,’ and especially so when they can add, ‘And we are on the track of the guilty persons.’”

— Spoken by a character · 11. The Corsican Ogre

And that is the very thing that alarms me,” returned Dantès. “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 approach; and monsters of all shapes and kinds, requiring to be overcome ere victory is ours.

— Dantès · 5. The Marriage Feast

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.

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

— Franz · 35. La Mazzolata

Every man has a devouring passion in his heart, as every fruit has its worm; that of the telegraph man was horticulture.

I wish to be Providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish.’

— Monte Cristo · 48. Ideology