Alexandre Dumas Quotes (108 Quotes)

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.

I have no will, unless it be the will never to decide. I have been so overwhelmed by the many storms that have broken over my head, that I am become passive in the hands of the Almighty, like a sparrow in the talons of an eagle. I live, because it is not ordained for me to die.

One always hurries towards happiness, Monsieur Danglars, because when one has suffered much, one is at pains to believe in it.

We are always in a hurry to be happy, M. Danglars; for when we have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune.

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

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

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

I know what happiness and what despair are, and I never make a jest of such feelings. Take it, then, but in exchange -

Order is the key to all problems.

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

Capricious and unfaithful, the king wished to be called Louis the Just and Louis the Chaste. Posterity will find a difficulty in understanding this character, which history explains only by facts and never by reason.

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

Ah, what he is; that is quite another thing. I have seen so many remarkable things in him, that if you would have me really say what I think, I shall reply that I really do look upon him as one of Byron's heroes, whom misery has marked with a fatal brand; some Manfred, some Lara, some Werner, one of those wrecks, as it were, of some ancient family, who, disinherited of their patrimony, have achieved one by the force of their adventurous genius, which has placed them above the laws of society.

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.

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.

Weakened minds see everything through a black veil; the soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of your future appears stormy and unpromising.

Everyone knows that drunkards and lovers have a protecting diety.

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!

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.

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.

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

We'll go where the air is pure, where all sounds are soothing, where, no matter how proud one may be, one feels humble and finds oneself small- in short, we'll go to the sea. I love the sea as one loves a mistress and I long for her when I haven't seen her for some time

Everyone knows that God protects drunkards and lovers.

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

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.

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.

I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.

Every individual, from the highest to the lowest degree, has his place in the ladder of social life, and around him swirls a little world of interests, composed of stormy passions and conflicting atoms

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

Tell the angel who will watch over your life to pray now and then for a man who, like Satan, believed himself for an instant to be equal to God, but who realized in all humility that supreme power and wisdom are in the hands of God alone.

What tender threads do life and death hang.

I do not often laugh, sir, as you may perceive by the air of my countenance; but nevertheless, I retain the privilege of laughing when I please.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

It was clear that Mme Danglars was suffering from one of those nervous irritations which women are often unable to explain even to themselves.

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

Woman is sacred; the woman one loves is holy.

It is only the dead who do not return.

God is always the last resource.

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.

The friends that we have lost do not repose in the bosom of the earth, but are buried deep in our hearts, and it has been ordained that we may always be accompanied by them.

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

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.

Hatred is blind, anger is foolhardy, and he who pours out vengeance risks having to drink a bitter draft

Life is very tenacious in these lawyers.