Alexandre Dumas

All human wisdom is summed up in two words: wait and hope.

So heavy is the chain of wedlock that it needs two to carry it and sometimes three.

Business? It's quite simple. It's other people's money.

I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol.

It is necessary ... to yield to the storm, purchase a peace, and wait patiently for better times.

How did I escape? With difficulty. How did I plan this moment? With pleasure.

I never swear, Monseigneur. I say Yes or No, and as I am a gentleman, I keep my word.

Death is the only serious preoccupation in life.

Yet man will never be perfect until he learns to create and destroy; he does know how to destroy, and that is half the battle.

Pain anguish and suffering in human life are always in proportion to the strength with which a man is endowed. We will not pretend to say that Heaven always apportions to a man's capability of endurance the anguish with which he afflicts him...Suffering is in proportion to the strength which has been accorded in other words the weak suffer more where the trial is the same than the strong.

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.

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.

Oh, mankind, race of crocodiles! How well I recognize you down there, and how worthy you are of yourselves!

I began a poem in lines of one syllable. It's rather difficult, but the merit of all things lies in their difficulty. The subject matter is gallant. I'll read you the first canto; it's four hundred verses long and takes one minute.

Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.

All human wisdom is contained in these two words: 'wait' and 'hope'".

I do what I please, M. Beauchamp, and it is always well done.

I do as I please, Monsieur Beauchamp, and believe me, what I do is always well done.