How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Father! Will you always be an obstacle to my happiness in this world, and shall I always have to contend with your past?
Then, suddenly, it seemed as though a light had unexpectedly passed through his mind and lit up his face. A smile rose to his clenched lips, while his distraught look became a stare and his mind appeared to concentrate on a single idea.
"That's it," he said. "This letter, which should have destroyed me, might perhaps make my fortune. Come, Villefort, to work!" (7.121-123)
Thanks to a skillful manipulation of the situation, Villefort is able to turn a disaster into a career-making move.
Quote #2
"What I mean, my dear fellow," the Count says, "is that I shall do more by myself with my gold than you and all your people with their daggers, their pistols, their carbines and their blunderbusses. So let me do it." (34.39)
The Count lets Luigi Vampa know that, sometimes, the coin is mightier than the sword. This kind of passive influence is Monte Cristo's stock in trade, and Peppino's rescue seems to prove its effectiveness.
Quote #3
"But, with such an outlook," Franz told the count, "which makes you judge and executioner in your own case, it would be hard for you to confine yourself to actions that would leave you forever immune to the power of the law. Hatred is blind and anger deaf: the one who pours himself a cup of vengeance is likely to drink a bitter draught."
"Yes, if he is clumsy and poor; no, if he is a millionaire and adroit." (35.44)
Monte Cristo, clearly referring to himself, has total faith in his ability to manage the situation. He has plenty of reason to be confident, but he's wrong to think he's perfect.
Quote #4
"Ah, but who can ever know what may happen, my dear fellow? Man proposes, God disposes…"
Andrea sighed and said: "But as long as I remain in Paris and nothing forces me to leave, this money that you just mentioned is guaranteed?"
"Oh, yes, absolutely." (61.46-48)
It's almost like a jinx. The moment Andrea says, "As long as […] nothing forces me to leave," you get the feeling he'll be leaving sooner than he thinks.
Quote #5
"The next day you could read in Le Moniteur: "Yesterday's article in Les Messager announcing Don Carlos' escape and a rebellion in Barcelona was without foundation. King Don Carlos is still in Burgos and the peninsula is entirely tranquil. A telegraphic signal, misread because of the fog, gave rise to this false report." (68.164)
A butterfly flaps its wings in Pittsburgh and sets off a tornado in Tokyo. That's sort of what we have here: a very little thing has some very big consequences. In this case, though, the Count is flapping the wings and making darn sure that there's going to be a tornado.
Quote #6
"My life has been worn away by the pursuit of difficult things and in breaking down those who, voluntarily or otherwise, of their own free will or as a result of chance, stood in my way and raised such obstacles. It is rare to feel an ardent desire for something and not find that it is ardently defended by those from whom one would like to take it or seize it." (67.14)
Villefort describes his life as one long exercise in coercion. His philosophy – anything worth wanting has to be taken from someone else – implies that manipulation, specifically the manipulation of another person, is totally necessary if one wants to get ahead in life.
Quote #7
The abbé lowered the green shade and said: "Now, Monsieur, I am listening. Speak."
"I am coming to the point. Do you know the Count of Monte Cristo?"
"I suppose you are speaking of Monsieur Zaccone?"
"Zaccone! So he is not called Monte Cristo!"
"Monte Cristo is the name of an island, or rather of a rock, not of a family."
"Very well. Let's not argue about the words. So, since Monsieur de Monte Cristo and Monsieur Zaccone are the same man…"
"Absolutely the same." (69.34-39)
Edmond, who has taken on the role of Monte Cristo but is in disguise, talks about one of his other aliases, and fabricates a new identity for his fictional count, all in order to throw off one investigator. It's a thing of beauty, really.
Quote #8
"To me, a good servant is one over whom I have the power of life and death."
"And do you have the power of life and death over Bertuccio?" Albert asked.
"Yes," the count said curtly. Some words end a conversation like a steel door falling. The count's "Yes" was one of those words. (85.119-120)
The power over life and death is definitely the ultimate form of control. That Edmond should need to have it over every servant speaks to his exacting (and ruthless) nature.
Quote #9
"Suppose that the Lord God, after creating the world, after fertilizing the void, had stopped one-third of the way through His creation to spare an angel the tears that our crimes would one day bring to His immortal eyes. Suppose that, having prepared everything, kneaded everything, seeded everything, at the moment when He was about to admire his work, God had extinguished the sun and with His foot dashed the world into eternal night, then you will have some idea…Or, rather, no…No, even then you cannot have any idea of what I am losing by losing my life at this moment." (89.71)
Edmond goes beyond describing himself as a controller or a manipulator and casts himself as a creator. And not just any creator, mind you, but God.
Quote #10
"As for you, Morrel, this is the whole secret of my behaviour towards you: there is neither happiness nor misfortune in this world, there is merely the comparison between one state and another, nothing more. Only someone who has suffered the deepest misfortune is capable of experiencing the heights of felicity. Maximilian, you must needs have wished to die, to know how good it is to live." (117.149)
The Count tricks Morrel into thinking his lover is dead in order to teach him a lesson. He sinks him into the depths of depression in order that he might raise him up. Maximilian is the puppet, and Monte Cristo his master. Not in the end, though. In the end, Max is his pupil, and Monte Cristo shows that his methods, however harsh, are effective.