Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy.
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117
Celui-là seul qui a éprouvé l'extrême infortune est apte à ressentir l'extrême félicité.
Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy.
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117
What it means
Suffering deepens your capacity for joy. The Count tells young Morrel his pain was not wasted. What you live through now widens what you can feel later.
The source
"Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy." Alexandre Dumas said it in The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117. Translated from the original French by Spartan Surfers.
"Celui-là seul qui a éprouvé l'extrême infortune est apte à ressentir l'extrême félicité."Original French, The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117. Text read at gutenberg.org.
Who said it
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870). French novelist of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844–46), the story of a sailor wrongly imprisoned who escapes and returns.
Questions
- What does "Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy." mean?
- Suffering deepens your capacity for joy. The Count tells young Morrel his pain was not wasted. What you live through now widens what you can feel later.
- Who said "Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy."?
- Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870). Source: The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117.
- What is the original French?
- Celui-là seul qui a éprouvé l'extrême infortune est apte à ressentir l'extrême félicité. Translated from the original French by Spartan Surfers.
- Is "Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy." on a shirt?
- Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 6 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.
Cite this line
"Only one who has known the deepest misfortune can feel the highest joy." (Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117, translated by Spartan Surfers). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/only-one-who-has-known-the-deepest-misfortune
Filed under Quotes about discipline and grit.
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More from Alexandre Dumas
- All human wisdom is in two words: wait and hope.The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117
- You must have wanted to die to know how good it is to live.The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117
- Learning is not knowing. Memory makes the one, philosophy the other.The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 17
- Wounds of the heart can hide, but they never close.The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 86
- Hatred is blind. Whoever pours vengeance may drink a bitter cup.The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 35
- There is no happiness or misery, only one state compared with another.The Count of Monte Cristo, ch. 117