But such was his state of mind that two bottles were not enough to extinguish his thoughts; so he remained, too drunk to fetch any more wine, not drunk enough to forget, seated in front of his two empty bottles, with his elbows on a rickety table, watching all the specters that Hoffman scattered across manuscripts moist with punch, dancing like a cloud of fantastic black dust in the shadows thrown by his long-wicked candle.
No, my life has been passed in frivolity; I wish to forget it myself.
Time, which encrusts all physical substances with its mossy mantle, as it invests all things of the mind with forgetfulness, seemed to have respected these signs, which apparently had been made with some degree of regularity, and probably with a definite purpose.
A curse on those who fear wine: it’s because they have evil thoughts and they are afraid that wine will loosen their tongues.
Seek whom the crime will profit,’ says an axiom of jurisprudence.
Beauchamp, one of the kings of the press, and therefore claiming the right of a throne everywhere, was eying everybody through his monocle.
It is only by comparing the pains of actual being with the joys of the assumed existence, that you would desire to live no longer, but to dream thus forever.
One of his peculiarities was never to speak a word of French, which he however wrote with great facility.
Maximilian,” said the count, “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.
If I were sole owner we’d shake hands on it now, my dear Dantes, and call it settled; but I have a partner, and you know the Italian proverb – Chi ha compagno ha padrone – ‘He who has a partner has a master.
Only a weak spirit sees everything from behind a dark veil. The soul makes its own horizons; your soul is overcast, and that is why the sky seems stormy to you.
Danglars was one of those men born with a pen behind the ear, and an inkstand in place of a heart.
I never seek to protect a society which does not protect me, and which I will even say, generally occupies itself about me only to injure me;.
Edmond, my friend, do not compel me to tarnish that noble and pure image reflected incessantly on the mirror of my heart.
Ci vuole la sciagura per scavare certe miniere misteriose nascoste nell’intelligenza umana; ci vuole la pressione per far esplodere la polvere.
How typical that is, you proud and self-absorbed creature! This is indeed the man who enjoys taking an axe to the self-esteem of others, but cries out when a needle touches his own.
In all well-organized 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.
Pretend to think well of yourself, and the world will think well of you,” an axiom a hundred times more useful in society.
The Count of Morcerf was no favorite with his colleagues. Like all upstarts, he had had recourse to a great deal of haughtiness to maintain his position.
He then closed his eyes as children do in order that they may see in the resplendent night of their own imagination more stars than are visible in the firmament;.