A young man – we can sketch his portrait at a dash. Imagine to yourself a Don Quixote of eighteen; a Don Quixote without his corselet, without his coat of mail, without his cuisses; a Don Quixote clothed in a woolen doublet, the blue color of which had faded into a nameless shade between lees of wine and a heavenly azure; face long and brown;.
When you return to this mundane sphere from your visionary world, you would seem to leave a Neapolitan spring for a Lapland winter – to quit paradise for earth – heaven for hell! Taste the hashish, guest of mine – taste the hashish.
The truth is,’ replied Dantes, ’that I am too happy for noisy mirth;... joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow.
It is necessary... to yield to the storm, purchase a peace, and wait patiently for better times.
There are words which close a conversation as with an iron door.
I have just paid twenty-five thousand francs for a discovery for which I would willingly have paid a hundred thousand.’ ‘What have you discovered?’ Maximilien asked. ‘I have just found out how to rescue a gardener from the dormice who are eating his peaches.
Sir,” suddenly exclaimed the countess, after their walk had continued ten minutes in silence, “is it true that you have seen so much, travelled so far, and suffered so deeply?” “I have suffered deeply, madame,” answered Monte Cristo. “But now you are happy?” “Doubtless,” replied the count, “since no one hears me complain.
The cause was not in Dantes, but in providence, who, while limiting the power of man, has filled him with boundless desires.
Hold! I must have lost it,” said the young man maliciously, pretending to search for it. “But fortunately the world is a sepulcher; the men, and consequently the women, are but shadows, and love is a sentiment to which you cry, ‘Fie! Fie!
At least it was not I who ever encouraged you in that hope, Fernand,” replied Mercedes; “you cannot reproach me with the slightest coquetry. I have always said to you, ‘I love you as a brother; but do not ask from me more than sisterly affection, for my heart is another’s.’ Is not this true, Fernand?
Well, Monsieur Laporte placed her near her Majesty in order that our poor queen might at least have someone in whom she could place confidence, abandoned as she is by the king, watched as she is by the cardinal, betrayed as she is by everybody.” “Ah, ah!
I – drunk!” said Caderousse; “well that’s a good one! I could drink four more such bottles; they are no bigger than cologne flasks. Pere Pamphile, more wine!” and Caderousse rattled his glass upon the table.
Take care, my worthy host,” said Albert, “better is a sure enemy to well.
The subjects which he has chosen, however, are of both historic and dramatic importance, and they have the added value of giving the modern reader a clear picture of the state of semi-lawlessness which existed in Europe, during the middle ages.
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.
You know as well as I do, my dear boy, that in politics there are no people, only ideas; no feelings, only interests. In politics, you don’t kill a man, you remove an obstacle, that’s all.
Alas, madame!” exclaimed Athos, “to-day love is like war – the breastplate is becoming useless.
In all well-organised brains, the predominating idea – and there always is one – is sure to be the last thought before sleeping, and the first upon waking in the morning. Andrea had scarcely opened his eyes when his predominating idea presented itself, and whispered in his ear that he had slept too long.
He called successively at the abodes of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Neither of them had returned.
Dear Valentine,’ said the young man, ’you are too far above my love for me to dare speak of it to you, yet every time that I see you I need to tell you that I adore you, so that the echo of my own words will gently caress my heart when I am no longer with you.