The Count of Monte Cristo (AmazonClassics Edition)

by Alexandre Dumas

“The Count of Monte Cristo!” said Danglars, more pale from terror than he had been just before from hunger and misery. “You are mistaken—I am not the Count of Monte Cristo.” “Then who are you?”—“I am he whom you sold and dishonored—I am he whose betrothed you prostituted—I am he upon whom you trampled that you might raise yourself to fortune—I am he whose father you condemned to die of hunger—I am he whom you also condemned to starvation, and who yet forgives you, because he hopes to be forgiven—I am Edmond Dantès!”

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living.

“Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,—‘Wait and hope.’—Your friend,

“Gone,” murmured Valentine; “adieu, my sweet Haidee—adieu, my sister!”—“Who can say whether we shall ever see them again?” said Morrel with tearful eyes. “Darling,” replied Valentine, “has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words?—‘Wait and hope.’”