The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

Learning does not make one learned: there are those who have knowledge and those who have understanding. The first requires memory, the second philosophy.’

This book may beat out Frankenstein as my favorite of all time.

God wants Man, whom he has created and in whose heart he has so profoundly entrenched a love for life, to do all he can to preserve an existence that is sometimes so painful, but always so dear to him.’

Edmond had become as skilled in navigating the coastal waters as he had once been on the open sea. He got to know all the smugglers around the Mediterranean and learned the Masonic signs that these semi-pirates used to recognize one another.