55 Unforgettable Alexandre Dumas Quotes
Alexandre Dumas (born July 24, 1802, Villers-Cotterêts, France – died December 5, 1870, Dieppe, France) was one of the most prolific and read French novelist and playwright.
His best-known works are The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires, 1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, 1844), which inspired many adaptations for film, television, and theater.
Other important works include Twenty Years After (Vingt ans après, 1845), The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard, 1847 – 1850), and The Black Tulip (La Tulipe noire, 1850)
Below is a collection of the best Alexandre Dumas quotes with sources and images.
You can find Alexandre Dumas’s quotes in French here.
All human wisdom is contained in these two words: ‘Wait and hope.’The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume II, Chapter LXVI. The Fifth of October, Page 648
Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter I. The Three Presents of d'Artagnan the Elder, Page 3
I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter III. The Catalans, Page 26
People in general, only asked advice not to follow it or if they did follow it, it was for the sake of having some one to blame for having given it.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XXXIV. In Which the Equipment of Aramis and Porthos is Treated Of, Page 273
Moral wounds have this peculiarity – they conceal themselves but never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume II, Chapter XXXIV. The Trial, Page 367
What is death? One step further into calm and two perhaps into silence.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Penguin Books, 2003), Chapter XC. The Encounter, Page 987
Love is the most selfish of all the passions.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XI. The Plot Thickens, Page 85
It is necessary to have wished for death, in order to know how good it is to live.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 73, Page 441
The merit of a thing lies in its difficulty.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. The Classics Book Club, 1940), Chapter XXVIII. The Return, Page 253
For all evils there are two remedies – time and silence.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 24, Page 165
I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. The Classics Book Club, 1940), Conclusion, Page 532
We are always in a hurry to be happy; for when we have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter III. The Catalans, Page 26
A rogue does not laugh in the same way that an honest man does; a hypocrite does not shed the same sort of tears as fall from the eyes 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.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XXVI. Aramis' Thesis, Page 204
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.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Penguin Books, 2003), Chapter XXXI. Italy: Sinbad the Sailor, Page 320
You, who are in power, have only the means that money produces; we, who are in expectation, have those which devotion prompts.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XII. Father and Son, Page 103
Sleep is a most capricious divinity, and it is exactly when you invoke her that she refuses to come.Twenty Years After (1845), (ed. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1898), Chapter XXI, Page 177
There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body’s sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Penguin Books, 2003), Chapter LXXVII. Haydée, Page 850
The unfortunate cling to the smallest hopes, as the happy do to the greatest good.The Vicomte of Bragelonne (1850), (ed. Collier & Son, 1902), Chapter XV. The Proscribed, Page 101
Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life; just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone estimate the value of a clear and serene sky.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter L. The Morrel Family, Page 582
Death is either a friend who rocks us gently as a nurse, or an enemy who violently drags the soul from the body.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume II, Chapter LXVI. The Fifth of October, Page 641
Women are never so strong as after their defeat.Marguerite de Valois (1845), (ed. Dent & Sons, 1921), Chapter I. M. de Guise's Latin, Page 12
If you wish to discover the guilty person, first find out to whom the crime might be useful.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 10, Page 45
We are often criminals in the sight of the great of the earth, not alone for having ourselves committed crimes, but because we know that crimes have been committed.The Man in the Iron Mask (1847), (ed. Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1850), Chapter XXIX. The Prisoner, Page 205
Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 4, Page 15
He who has a partner has a master.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter I. Marseilles - The Arrival, Page 8
What is so generously offered should be as generously accepted.Twenty Years After (1845), (ed. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1898), Chapter XLIV. Another Queen Who Asks Assistance, Page 373
For there are two distinct sorts of ideas: Those that proceed from the head and those that emanate from the heart.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XVI. A Learned Italian, Page 143
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Nothing is more full of courage than a patient heart, nothing is more self-reliant than a gentle spirit.Louise de la Vallière (1849), (ed. Collier & Son, 1902), Chapter XXIV. The First Quarrel, Page 154
To learn is not to know; there are the learners a the learned. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XVII. The Abbé's Chamber, Page 160
There is nothing more galling to angry people than the coolness of those on whom they wish to vent their spleen.The Black Tulip (1850), (ed. Dent & Sons, 1906), Chapter XXVIII. The Song of the Flowers, Page 213
Men who are truly generous are always ready to compassionate when the misfortune of their enemy surpasses the limits of their hatred.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume II, Chapter XXXIV. The Trial, Page 367
Pain, anguish, and suffering in human life are always in proportion to the strength with which a man is endowed.The Man in the Iron Mask (1847), (ed. Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1850), Chapter XLVI. A Night at the Bastille, Page 342
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.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 9, Page 34
Joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter V. The Marriage-Feast, Page 37
All for one, one for all.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter IX. D'Artagnaa Begins to Develop Himself, Page 76
In business, one has no friends, only correspondents.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XXIX. The House of Morrel & Son, Page 277
I am strong against everything, except against the death of those I love. For that only there is no remedy. He who dies gains; he who sees others die, loses.The Man in the Iron Mask (1847), (ed. Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1850), Chapter LX. Captive and Jailers, Page 460
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.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XII. Father and Son, Page 101
It’s easy to be friends when one shares the same opinions.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 42, Page 253
No friendship will hold out against a surprised secret.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XXVI. Aramis' Thesis, Page 203
We are never quits with those who oblige us, for when we don’t owe them money we owe them gratitude.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter II. Father and Son, Page 13
So rapid is the progress of our dreams upon the wings of imagination.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XI. The Plot Thickens, Page 83
Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half way on the road.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter LII. Toxicology, Page 610
It is not the laws of society that condemn murder, but the laws of nature.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Penguin Books, 2003), Chapter XVI. An Italian Scholar, Page 154
Life is a chaplet of little miseries, which the philosopher unstrings with a smile.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XLVIII. A Family Affair, Page 371
Hatred is blind; rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XXXV. La Mazzolata, Page 388
Beware of the enemy who makes you presents.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XXIII. The Rendezvous, Page 179
Youth is a blossom whose fruit is love; happy is he who plucks it after watching it slowly ripen.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 27, Page 180
He who hunts the eagle heeds not the sparrow.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1894 ), Chapter XXXIII. Maid and Mistress, Page 322
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 thus ordained that we may always be accompanied by them.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume II, Chapter LXI. The House in the Allees de Meillan, Page 595
Death tears off the mask that has been worn through life, and the real visage is disclosed.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter XXXVI. The Carnival at Rome, Page 398
Women weep for the dead. Men avenge them.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter LXIII. The Drop of Water, Page 472
Happiness renders even the wicked good.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. P. F. Collier & Son, 1910), Volume I, Chapter VII. The Examination, Page 64
Fortune is a courtesan; though favorable yesterday, she may turn her back to-morrow.The Three Musketeers (1844), (ed. Spencer Press, 1937), Chapter XXXVI. Dream o Vengeance, Page 289
It’s not the tree that leaves the blossom, but the blossom that leaves the tree.The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), (ed. Bantam Books, 1956), Chapter 27, Page 180
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