Quotes from Alexandre Dumas

For Milady was well aware that her most seductive power was in her voice, which could run skilfully through the whole scale of tones, from mortal speech, upwards to the language of heaven.

OdkÄ…d chrzeÅ›cijaÅ"stwo wniosÅ'o swój wkÅ'ad w rozwój cywilizacji w Rzymie, zamiast centuriona pojawiajÄ…cego siÄ™ na polecenie tyrana, aby rzec: Cesarz pragnie, abyÅ› umarÅ', przybywaÅ' legat, który z promiennym uÅ›miechem oznajmiaÅ' ci polecenie papie?a: Jego Ã…Å¡wiÄ…tobliwo?? pragnie, abyÅ› przybyÅ' do niego na ucztÄ™.

How singular, murmured Maximillian; your father hates me, while your grandfather, on the contrary -- What strange feelings are aroused by politics.

Punctuality, said Monte Cristo, is the politeness of kings, according to one of your sovereigns, I think; but it is not the same with travellers. However, I hope you will excuse the two or three seconds I am behindhand; five hundred leagues are not to be accomplished without some trouble, and especially in France, where, it seems, it is forbidden to beat the postilions.

And now, said the unknown, farewell kindness, humanity, and gratitude! Farewell to all the feelings that expand the heart! I have been heaven's substitute to recompense the good--now the god of vengeance yields to me his power to punish the wicked!

If they do not bring peace, we shall give them death.

Besides, one requires the excitement of being hateful in the eyes of the accused, in order to lash one's self into a state of sufficient vehemence and power. I would not choose to see the man against whom I pleaded smile, as though in mockery of my words. No; my pride is to see the accused pale, agitated, and as though beaten out of all composure by the fire of my eloquence.

you know that human inventions march from the complex to the simple, and simplicity is always perfection.

On my word, I think you are right, Lucien, said Albert absently.

I cannot think that man is meant to find happiness so easily! Happiness is like one of those palaces on an enchanted island, its gates guarded by dragons. One must fight to gain it; and, in truth, I do not know what I have done to deserve the good fortune of becoming Mercédès, husband.

The night was shining with stars. They were at the top of the Montee de Villedjuif, on the plateau from which Paris is a dark sea shimmering with millions of lights like phosphorescent waves; and waves they are, more thunderous, more passionate, more shifting, more furious and more greedy than those of the stormy ocean, waves which never experience the tranquility of a vast sea, but constantly pound together, ever foaming and engulfing everything!

D'Artagnan is right," said Athos. "Behold our three leaves of absence, which come from M. de Treville; and here are three hundred pistoles, which come from I know not where. Let us go and be killed where we are told to go. Is life worth so many questions? D'Artagnan, I am ready to follow you.

This other Musketeer formed a perfect contrast to his interrogator, who had just designated him by the name of Aramis. He was a stout man, of about two- or three-and-twenty, with an open, ingenuous countenance, a black, mild eye, and cheeks rosy and downy as an autumn peach.

El calor del día había ido declinando gradualmente, y se principiaba a sentir la ligera brisa, que parece la respiración de la naturaleza, exhalándose después de la calurosa siesta del mediodía; soplo agradable que refresca las costas del Mediterráneo, y lleva de ribera en ribera el perfume de los árboles, mezclado al ocre olor del mar.

Youth is a flower of which love is the fruit; happy is he who, after having watched its silent growth

Like all primitive natures, she adored everything that appealed to her eyes and her ears.

En política, querido mío, y vos lo sabéis tan bien como yo, no hay hombres, sino ideas; no sentimientos, sino intereses; en política no se mata a un hombre, sino se allana un obstáculo.

Youth is a flower of which love is the fruit; happy is he who, after having watched its silent growth, is permitted to gather and call it his own.

In any case, even the most corrupt of us finds it hard to believe in evil unless it is based on some interest. We reject the idea of harm done for no cause and without gain as anomalous.

O grande ville! c' est dans ton sein palpitant que j'ai trouve ce que je cherchais; mineur patient, j'ai remue tes entrailles pour en faire sortir le mal; maintenant, mon oeuvre est accomplie, ma mission est terminee; maintenant tu ne peux plus m'ofrir ni joies ni douleurs. Adieu, Paris,! adieu!

Kukapahan tässä onnesta tietää? Onnettomuus ja onni, ne jäävät seinien sisään salaisuudeksi. Seinät kuulevat, mutta eivät osaa puhua.

from Phaedrus, I believe, the other from Bias.1 Well, my dear father, in the shipwreck of life – for life is an eternal shipwreck of our hopes – I throw all my useless baggage in the sea, that's all, and remain with my will, prepared to live entirely alone and consequently entirely free.

Oh ! madame, si vous êtes si instamment attendue, permettez-moi de m'éloigner, car il me serait impossible de vous parler en ce moment. Je suis incapable de rassembler deux idées ; votre vue m'a ébloui. Je ne pense plus, j'admire.

Danglars was one of those men born with a pen behind the ear, and an ink-stand in place of a heart. Everything with him was multiplication or subtraction, and he estimated the life of a man as less precious than a figure, when that figure could increase, and the life would diminish, the total of the amount.