Dumas Quotes

I can see he thinks he's the ultimate creation, and he seems to believe every woman here is his Eve, created from his ribcage for him to enjoy. I'm both aroused and infuriated, and this is the most confusing feeling I've ever felt in my life. Brooke Dumas, REAL ~ Katy Evans

He must be a vampire. ~ Alexandre Dumas

At bottom the character of M. Bonacieux was one of profound selfishness mixed with sordid avarice, the whole seasoned with extreme cowardice. ~ Alexandre Dumas

I am - I am" - And his almost closed lips uttered a name so low that the count himself appeared afraid to hear it. ~ Alexandre Dumas

You are right; you know men better than I do, and what you say may possibly be the case, I confess; but if such persons are among my acquaintances I prefer not to know it, because then I should be forced to hate them ~ Alexandre Dumas

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 not the only quality we seek. ~ Alexandre Dumas

These groups followed some solitary passer-by, hurrying his steps; one after another the doors were closed, one after ~ Alexandre Dumas

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. ~ Alexandre Dumas

They have never heard of Lindsay Lohan. They are blessed. ~ Firoozeh Dumas

Although a companion is agreeable, perfect freedom is sometimes still more agreeable. I ~ Alexandre Dumas

Life is a chaplet of little miseries which the philosopher counts with a smile. Be philosophers, as I am, gentlemen; sit down at the table and let us drink. Nothing makes the future look so bright as surveying it through a glass of chambertin. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Perhaps what I am about to say will appear strange to you gentlemen, socialists, progressives, humanitarians as you are, but I never worry about my neighbor, I never try to protect society which does not protect me
indeed, I might add, which generally takes no heed of me except to do me harm
and, since I hold them low in my esteem and remain neutral towards them, I believe that society and my neighbor are in my debt. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Never be afraid of opportunities, always be on the lookout for adventures. ~ Alexandre Dumas

there is no nation but the French that can smile even in the face of grim Death himself. ~ Alexandre Dumas

From a cultural point of view the richest moments in civilization, in history, have occurred when the boundaries separating popular and creative literature disappear, and literature becomes simultaneously both things-something that enriches all audiences, something that can satisfy all kinds of mentalities and knowledge and education, and at the same time is creative and artistic and popular. Dickens, Hugo, and Dumas are extraordinary cases in point; and in Spain in the nineteenth century there are many other examples, such as Perez Galdos. ~ Mario Vargas-Llosa

Great is truth. Fire cannot burn it nor water drown it. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Those who are coerced by force become our enemies, those who succumb to reason become our allies. ~ Alexandre Dumas

When Franz returned to himself, he seemed still to be in a dream. He thought himself in a sepulchre, into which a ray of sunlight in pity scarcely penetrated. He stretched forth his hand, and touched stone; he rose to his seat, and found himself lying on his bournous in a bed of dry heather, very soft and odoriferous. The vision had fled; and as if the statues had been but shadows from the tomb, they had vanished at his waking. He advanced several paces towards the point whence the light came, and to all the excitement of his dream succeeded the calmness of reality. He found that he was in a grotto, went towards the opening, and through a kind of fanlight saw a blue sea and an azure sky. The air and water were shining in the beams of the morning sun; on the shore the sailors were sitting, chatting and laughing; and at ten yards from them the boat was at anchor, undulating gracefully on the water. There for some time he enjoyed the fresh breeze which played on his brow, and listened to the dash of the waves on the beach, that left against the rocks a lace of foam as white as silver. He was for some time without reflection or thought for the divine charm which is in the things of nature, specially after a fantastic dream; then gradually this view of the outer world, so calm, so pure, so grand, reminded him of the illusiveness of his vision, and once more awakened memory. He recalled his arrival on the island, his presentation to a smuggler chief, a subterranean palace full of s ~ Alexandre Dumas

Flying through an army, sire," said Athos, "in all countries in the world is called charging. ~ Alexandre Dumas

We must have felt what it is to die, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life. ~ Alexandre Dumas

We are entitled to violate history, provided that it results in handsome offspring. ~ Alexandre Dumas

In business, sir, one has no friends, only correspondents. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Those who are born with a silver spoon,' Emmanuel said, 'those who have never needed anything, do not understand what happiness is, any more than those who do not know the blessing of a clear sky and who have never entrusted their lives to four planks tossing on a raging sea. ~ Alexandre Dumas

As it was a time of war between the Catholics and the Huguenots, and as he saw the Catholics exterminate the Huguenots and the Huguenots exterminate the Catholics--all in the name of religion--he adopted a mixed belief which permitted him to be sometimes Catholic, sometimes a Huguenot. Now, he was accustomed to walk with his fowling piece on his shoulder, behind the hedges which border the roads, and when he saw a Catholic coming alone, the Protestant religion immediately prevailed in his mind. He lowered his gun in the direction of the traveler; then, when he was within ten paces of him, he commenced a conversation which almost always ended by the traveler's abandoning his purse to save his life. It goes without saying that when he saw a Huguenot coming, he felt himself filled with such ardent Catholic zeal that he could not understand how, a quarter of an hour before, he had been able to have any doubts upon the superiority of our holy religion. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Here's a man ready to chop another man's self-esteem to pieces with an axe, yet he cries out in pain when his own is pricked with a needle. ~ Alexandre Dumas

To seek a quarrel with a man is a bad method of pleasing the woman who loves that man. ~ Alexandre Dumas

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

Sighs united together are almost prayers; prayers coming from two hearts are almost acts of grace. ~ Alexandre Dumas

There's nothing gives you so much courage as good reasons," continued the sailor; ~ Alexandre Dumas

Who can say whether we shall ever see them again?' said Morriel with tearful eyes. 'Darling' replied Valentine, 'has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? - Wait and hope (Fac et spera) ~ Alexandre Dumas

If a man has tortured and killed your father, your mother, your sweetheart, in short, one of those beings who leave an eternal emptiness and a perpetually bleeding wound when they are torn from your heart, do you think society has given you sufficient reparation because the blade of the guillotine has passed between the murderer's trapezius and his occipital bone, because the who made you undergo long years of mental and emotional suffering has undergone a few seconds of physical pain? ~ Alexandre Dumas

Francaise with our own proper pack. This permission, we feel bound to say, was graciously granted; which compels us here to give a public contradiction to the slanderers who pretend that we live ~ Alexandre Dumas

A rogue does not laugh in the same way that an honest man does; a hypocrite does not shed the tears of a man of good faith. 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. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Before one is afraid, one sees clearly; while one is afraid, one sees double; and after being afraid, one sees dimly. ~ Alexandre Dumas

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

Come here, Grimaud," said Athos. To punish you for having spoken without leave my friend, you must eat this piece of paper: then, to reward you for the service which you will have rendered us, you shall afterwards drink this glass of wine. Here is the letter first: chew it hard."
Grimaud smiled, and with his eyes fixed on the glass which Athos filled to the very brim, chewed away at the paper, and finally swallowed it.
"Bravo, Master Grimaud!" said Athos. "and now take this. Good! I will dispense with your saying thank you."
Grimaud silently swallowed the glass of Bordeaux; but during the whole time that this pleasant operation lasted, his eyes, which were fixed upon the heavens, spoke a language which, though mute, was not therefore the least expressive. ~ Alexandre Dumas

D'Artagnan wished to stop the young woman, seize her and gaze upon her, were it only for a minute; but quick as a bird she glided between his hands, and when he wished to speak to her, her finger placed upon her mouth, with a little imperative gesture full of grace, reminded him that he was under the command of a power which he must blindly obey, and which forbade him even to make the slightest complaint. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Huge clouds were already careering in the skies, and distant flashes announced a tempest. About ten o'clock, the storm burst forth; and Milady found some consolation in seeing Nature partake of the commotion within her. The thunder bellowed in the air like the angry passions in her soul; and it seemed to her as if the passing gusts disturbed her brow, as they did the trees of which they bent down the branches and sept off the leaves. She howled like the tempest, but her voice was unheard Amidst the vast voice of Nature, which also appeared to be herself groaning in despair. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Edmond Dantes: I don't believe in God.
Abbe Faria: That doesn't matter, He believes in you ... ~ Alexandre Dumas

Fernand," cried he, "of my hundred names I need only tell you one, to overwhelm you! But you guess it now do you not? - or, rather, you remember it? For notwithstanding all my sorrows and my tortures, I show you today a face which the happiness of revenge makes young again.. ~ Alexandre Dumas

At the end of ten minutes fifty thousand lights glittered, descending from the Palazzo di Venezia to the Piazza del Popolo, and mounting from the Piazzo del Popolo to the Palazzo di Venezia. It seemed like the fete of jack-o'-lanterns. It is impossible to form any idea of it without having seen it. Suppose that all the stars had descended from the sky and mingled in a wild dance on the face of the earth; the whole accompanied by cries that were never heard in any other part of the world. ~ Alexandre Dumas

This will do," said he, "and from this letter, which might have ruined me, I will make my fortune. Now to the work I have in hand." And after having assured himself that the prisoner was gone, the deputy procureur hastened to the house of his betrothed. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Yes; I am a supercargo; pen, ink, and paper are my tools, and without my tools I am fit for nothing. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Dantes had entered the Chateau d'If with the round, open, smiling face of a young and happy man, with whom the early
paths of life have been smooth. and who anticipates a future corresponding with his past. This was now all changed. The oval face was lengthened, his smiling mouth had assumed the firm and marked
lines which betoken resolution; his eyebrows were arched beneath a brow furrowed with thought; his eyes were full of melancholy, and from their depths occasionally sparkled gloomy fires of misanthropy and hatred; his complexion, so long kept from the sun, had now that pale color which produces, when the features are encircled with black hair, the aristocratic beauty of the man of the north; the profound learning he had acquired had besides diffused over his features a refined intellectual expression; and he had also acquired, being naturally of a goodly stature, that vigor which a frame possesses which has so long concentrated all its force within itself. ~ Alexandre Dumas

An all-wise Providence permits not sinners to escape thus easily from the punishment they have merited on earth, but reserves them to aid his own designs, using them as instruments whereby to work his vengeance on the guilty. ~ Alexandre Dumas

... I am no longer a reasoning creature; I have no will, unless it be the will never to decide. ~ Alexandre Dumas

My solicitous wife has kept me going despite the ravages of time. I trust she is not weary in well doing nor tired of being thanked. ~ Dumas Malone

If you're having trouble finding someone to play with, why don't you just go play with yourself. ~ Amy Dumas

There is something so awe-inspiring in great afflictions that even in the worst times the first emotion of a crowd has generally been to sympathise with the sufferer in a great catastrophe. ~ Alexandre Dumas

A fruit basket would have been nice, but instead we found that a flyer had been slipped under the door. Dear Brainwashed Cowards, You are nothing but puppets of the corrupt Shah. We will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Death to the Shah. Death to you. My father crumpled the flyer and threw it away. "Let's find out where they're having the dinner buffet," he said. ~ Firoozeh Dumas

The difference between genius and stupidity is: genius has its limits. ~ Alexandre Dumas-fils

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

he spoke with so much simplicity that it was evident he spoke the truth, or that he was mad. ~ Alexandre Dumas

I always said that this cadet from Gascony was a well of wisdom," murmured Athos; ~ Alexandre Dumas

Grimaud left the chamber, and led the way to the hall, where, according
to the custom of the province, the body was laid out, previously to
being put away forever. D'Artagnan was struck at seeing two open coffins
in the hall. In reply to the mute invitation of Grimaud, he approached,
and saw in one of them Athos, still handsome in death, and, in the
other, Raoul with his eyes closed, his cheeks pearly as those of the
Palls of Virgil, with a smile on his violet lips. He shuddered at seeing
the father and son, those two departed souls, represented on earth by
two silent, melancholy bodies, incapable of touching each other, however
close they might be. ~ Alexandre Dumas

At the time when Pope Pius VII had to leave Rome, which had been conquered by revolutionary French, the committee of the Chamber of Commerce in London was considering the herring fishery. One member of the committee observed that, since the Pope had been forced to leave Rome, Italy was probably going to become a Protestant country. "Heaven help us," cried another member. "What," responded the first, "would you be upset to see the number of good Protestants increase?" "No," the other answered, "it isn't that, but suppose there are no more Catholics, what shall we do with our herring?" - Alexandre Dumas, Le grand dictionnaire de cuisine, 1873 ~ Mark Kurlansky

Did what people will do in politics, or on the sea when the wind is against them, - I tacked. ~ Alexandre Dumas

My breakthrough as a reader was when I discovered the European adventure story writers - Alexander Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Walter Scott, to name a few. ~ Terry Brooks

we said we would be to each other as two voices, who shadows. ~ Alexandre Dumas

The life of Dumas is not only a monument of endeavour and success, it is a sort of labyrinth as well. It abounds in pseudonyms and disguises, in sudden and unexpected appearances and retreats as unexpected and sudden, in scandals and in rumours, in mysteries and traps and ambuscades of every kind. ~ William Ernest Henley

Shushtari proverb "Any gift from a true friend is valuable, even if it's a hollow walnut shell." It's fair to say that the Shushtari floating in my house ~ Firoozeh Dumas

Older boys often asked me to teach them "some bad words in your language". At first I politely refused. My refusal merely increased their determination, so I solved the problem by teaching them phrases like 'man kharam' which means "I'm an idiot". I told them that what I was teaching them was so nasty that they would have to promise never to repeat it to anyone. They would then spend all of recess running around yelling "I'm an idiot! I'm an idiot!". I never told them the truth. I figured someday, somebody would ~ Firoozeh Dumas

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

It was only when I stopped pretending to be someone else that I found my real friends. ~ Firoozeh Dumas

Sometimes salvation is found in agony. ~ Alexandre Dumas

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 lives to the mercy of four planks on a raging sea. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Where did I meet him before - this buckbasket of fat, this full-moon face of purple, and this carriage of a sacred elephant? ~ Alexandre Dumas

There are people who are willing to suffer and swallow their tears at leisure, and God will not doubt reward them in heaven for their resignation; but those who have the will to struggle strike back at fate in retaliation for the blows they receive. Do you intend to fight back at fate, Valentine? That's what I came here to ask you.
-Maximilien Morrel ~ Alexandre Dumas

Joy to hearts which have suffered long is like the dew on the ground after a long drought; both the heart and the ground absorb that beneficent moisture falling on them, and nothing is outwardly apparant. ~ Alexandre Dumas

I have forgiven the world for the love of you; ~ Alexandre Dumas

It was a human storm, composed of a thunder of cries, and a hail of sweetmeats, flowers, eggs, oranges, and nosegays. ~ Alexander Dumas

Vengeance in bloom shone in her eyes and smiled on her lips. ~ Alexandre Dumas

No. I will remain because I have been accustomed for thirty years to go and take the orderly word of the King, and to have it said to me, 'Good evening, d'Artagnan,' with a smile I did not beg for! ~ Alexandre Dumas

Everyone except gamblers knows that gambling never pays ... Losing, like winning, only increased his determination to play. ~ Firoozeh Dumas

Oh, no; I should find there people who would force me to understand things of which I would prefer to remain ignorant, and who would try to explain to me, in spite of myself, a mystery which even they do not understand. ~ Alexander Dumas

What is offered from a generous heart should be accepted generously. ~ Alexandre Dumas

The chemical compounds are comparable to a system of planets in that the atoms are held together by chemical affinity. They may be more or less numerous, simple or complex in composition, and in the constitution of the materials, they play the same role as Mars and Venus do in our planetary system, or the compound members such as our earth with its moon, or Jupiter with its satellites ... If in such a system a particle is replaced by one of different character, the equilibrium can persist, and then the new compound will exhibit properties similar to those shown by the original substance. ~ Jean-Baptiste Dumas

Everything was believed except the truth. ~ Alexandre Dumas-fils

American history offers no parallel to the friendship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, spanning the first half century of the Republic ... The publication, in full and integrated form, of the remarkable correspondence between these two eminent men is a notable event. ~ Dumas Malone

I hate the English
they are coarse, like every nation that swills beer. ~ Alexandre Dumas

What, no wine?" said Dantes, turning pale, and looking alternately at the hollow cheeks of the old man and the empty cupboards. "What, no wine? Have you wanted money, father? ~ Alexandre Dumas

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

Ah, no difficulties can ever daunt me,' replied d'Artagnan: 'my only fear is, of impossibilities.'
'Nothing is impossible,' said the lady, 'to the one who truly loves.'
'Nothing, madame?'
'Nothing' she replied. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Joy sometimes has a strange effect: it can oppress us almost as much as sorrow. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Her love will prove fatal to any man who dares to love her. ~ Alexandre Dumas-fils

Never mind, you know the word must; with that word one does many things. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Life is no more than the repeated fulfilling of a permanent desire. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Go," said the count deliberately, "go, dear friend, but promise me, if you meet with any obstacle to remember that I have some power in this world; that I am happy to use that power in the behalf of those I love; and that I love you, Morrel."
"I will remember it," said the young man, "as selfish children recollect their parents when they want their aid. When I need your assistance, and the moment may come, I will come to you, count. ~ Alexandre Dumas

It was a strange thing: one never appeared to take a step forward int he heart or mind of this man. Those who wished, so to speak, to force their way into intimacy with him found the path blocked. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Remember that it is the dead alone with whom we are not likely to meet again on this earth. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Take away this remaining doubt that, if it does not become a certainty, will turn into remorse. ~ Alexandre Dumas

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. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Now that I expect nothing, now that I no longer entertain the slightest hopes, the end of this adventure becomes simply a matter of curiosity. ~ Alexandre Dumas-fils

Philosophy cannot be taught. Philosophy is the union of all acquired knowledge and the genius that applies it: philosophy is the shining cloud upon which Christ set His foot to go up into heaven. ~ Alexandre Dumas

It's easy to be friends with when shares the same opinions. ~ Alexandre Dumas

I think that every one whom you may ask how to write a play will reply, if he really can write one, that he doesn't know how it is done. It is a little as if you were to ask Romeo what he did to fall in love with Juliet and to make her love him; he would reply that he did not know, that it simply happened.
Well, my dear friend, if you want me to be quite frank, I'll own up that I don't know how to write a play. One day a long time ago, when I was scarcely out of school, I asked my father the same question. He answered: It's very simple; the first act clear, the last act short, and all the acts interesting. ~ Alexandre Dumas-fils

My lord," said D'Artagnan, "Monsieur de Vallon [Porthos] is like me, he prefers service extraordinary - that is to say, enterprises that are considered mad and impossible. ~ Alexandre Dumas

Then Dantes rose more agile and light than the kid among the myrtles and shrubs of these wild rocks, took his gun in one hand, his pickaxe in the other, and hastened towards the rock on which the marks he had noted terminated. "And now," he exclaimed, remembering the tale of the Arabian fisherman, which Faria had related to him, "now, open sesame! ~ Alexandre Dumas

During his next visit, my father secretly decided that our bathroom needed towel hooks. Using nails that were too long, my father pierced the door, creating towel hooks on one side, medieval blinding devices on the other ... No matter how inconvenient a household malfunction might be, Kazem can always make it worse, for free. ~ Firoozeh Dumas

The more modest and impractical the kitchen, the more likely one will be invited to stay for a meal. Show me a fancy house with a top-of-the-line gourmet kitchen, and I'll show you a family that eats out a lot. ~ Firoozeh Dumas