Fantômas quotes
The lines readers remember from Fantômas, by Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain.
24 quotes · About the book
Standout lines
“But it is life, sir; it is history, it is the real thing!”
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But Charles Rambert was not the least impressed.
“But it is life, sir; it is history, it is the real thing!”
he insisted. “Why, you yourself, in just a few words, have thrown an atmosphere round this Fantômas which makes him absolutely fascinating! I would give anything to have known Vidocq and Cartouche and Rocambole, and to have seen them at close quarters. Those were men!”
Most likely that means, my dear, that the human heart declines to grow old and refuses to preserve any but pictures of childhood.
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“Yes,” said Etienne Rambert; “when one gets to my age, little Thérèse, one always does remember the happy days of one’s youth; one remembers recent events much less distinctly.
Most likely that means, my dear, that the human heart declines to grow old and refuses to preserve any but pictures of childhood.
”
A man can brave a danger he can measure, but he trembles when confronted with a peril he suspects but cannot see.
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And finally, M. de Presles, because everyone whom I have known to attack Fantômas, my friends, my colleagues, my superior officers, have one and all, one and all, sir, been beaten in the fight! Fantômas does exist, I know, but who is he?
A man can brave a danger he can measure, but he trembles when confronted with a peril he suspects but cannot see.
”
You don’t see him; you divine his presence: you don’t hear him; you have a presentiment of him.
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I know nothing of his life; I know nothing of his object. In no single case yet has it been possible to determine the exact part he has taken. He seems to possess the extraordinary gift of being able to slay and leave no trace.
You don’t see him; you divine his presence: you don’t hear him; you have a presentiment of him.
If Fantômas is mixed up in this present affair, I don’t know if we ever shall succeed in clearing it up!”
The night was inky black. The keenest eye could make out nothing at all distinctly, even at the distance of a few yards: the darkness was so dense as to seem absolutely solid.
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the rain was lashing down more fiercely, and the wind was blowing harder still, making the slender poplars along the railway line bow and bend before the squalls and assume the most fantastic shapes, but vaguely shown against the night.
The night was inky black. The keenest eye could make out nothing at all distinctly, even at the distance of a few yards: the darkness was so dense as to seem absolutely solid.
Nevertheless, along the railway embankment, a man was making his way with steady step, seeming not a whit disturbed by the tragic horror of the storm.
I hope not, for if there is one thing of which one never tires here below, it is Woman, the peerless rainbow that illuminates this vale of tears!
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“Heavens, I hope not!” exclaimed the actor. “
I hope not, for if there is one thing of which one never tires here below, it is Woman, the peerless rainbow that illuminates this vale of tears!
”
All quotes
Jump to a chapter
- I: The Genius of Crime
- II: A Tragic Dawn
- VI: “Fantômas, It Is Death!”
- VIII: A Dreadful Confession
- X: Princess Sonia’s Bath
- XII: A Knockout Blow
- XV: The Mad Woman’s Plot
- XVII: At the Saint-Anthony’s Pig
- XX: A Cup of Tea
- XXVI: A Mysterious Crime
- XXVII: Three Surprising Incidents
- XXIX: Verdict and Sentence
- XXX: An Assignation
I: The Genius of Crime
Criminals are given haloes and proclaimed from the housetops. It is astounding!
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It is out of place, to put it mildly,” and he turned to the Abbé Sicot. “There, sir, that is the result of this modern education and the state of mind produced in the younger generation by the newspaper press and even by literature.
Criminals are given haloes and proclaimed from the housetops. It is astounding!
”
“But it is life, sir; it is history, it is the real thing!”
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But Charles Rambert was not the least impressed.
“But it is life, sir; it is history, it is the real thing!”
he insisted. “Why, you yourself, in just a few words, have thrown an atmosphere round this Fantômas which makes him absolutely fascinating! I would give anything to have known Vidocq and Cartouche and Rocambole, and to have seen them at close quarters. Those were men!”
II: A Tragic Dawn
Most likely that means, my dear, that the human heart declines to grow old and refuses to preserve any but pictures of childhood.
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“Yes,” said Etienne Rambert; “when one gets to my age, little Thérèse, one always does remember the happy days of one’s youth; one remembers recent events much less distinctly.
Most likely that means, my dear, that the human heart declines to grow old and refuses to preserve any but pictures of childhood.
”
VI: “Fantômas, It Is Death!”
“Charles Rambert is the culprit, sir,” Juve replied brightly. “If he were not, whom else could we possibly suspect?”
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“And that is tantamount to saying that in spite of the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, and in spite of the fact that he has run away, Charles Rambert is innocent?”
“Charles Rambert is the culprit, sir,” Juve replied brightly. “If he were not, whom else could we possibly suspect?”
The detective’s placidity and his perpetual self-contradictions exasperated M. de Presles. He held his tongue, and was silently revolving the case in his mind when Juve made yet one more suggestion.
A man can brave a danger he can measure, but he trembles when confronted with a peril he suspects but cannot see.
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And finally, M. de Presles, because everyone whom I have known to attack Fantômas, my friends, my colleagues, my superior officers, have one and all, one and all, sir, been beaten in the fight! Fantômas does exist, I know, but who is he?
A man can brave a danger he can measure, but he trembles when confronted with a peril he suspects but cannot see.
”
You don’t see him; you divine his presence: you don’t hear him; you have a presentiment of him.
Show the passage
I know nothing of his life; I know nothing of his object. In no single case yet has it been possible to determine the exact part he has taken. He seems to possess the extraordinary gift of being able to slay and leave no trace.
You don’t see him; you divine his presence: you don’t hear him; you have a presentiment of him.
If Fantômas is mixed up in this present affair, I don’t know if we ever shall succeed in clearing it up!”
Fantômas is an enemy of society, you say? I prefer to regard him first and foremost as my own personal enemy!
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When I first began—and that was not yesterday, nor yet the day before—to realise the importance and the power of this Fantômas, I took an oath, sir, that some day I would discover his identity and effect his arrest!
Fantômas is an enemy of society, you say? I prefer to regard him first and foremost as my own personal enemy!
I have declared war on him, and I am ready to lose my skin in the war if necessary, but by God I’ll have his!”
I have declared war on him, and I am ready to lose my skin in the war if necessary, but by God I’ll have his!
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Fantômas is an enemy of society, you say? I prefer to regard him first and foremost as my own personal enemy!
I have declared war on him, and I am ready to lose my skin in the war if necessary, but by God I’ll have his!
”
VIII: A Dreadful Confession
New Year’s Day is a melancholy and a tedious one for everybody whose public or private relations do not make it an exceptionally interesting one.
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Half an hour later, convinced that it was his melancholy duty, Bouzille left two-thirds of his train in mother Chiquard’s custody, got astride his prehistoric tricycle and slowly pedalled off towards Saint-Jaury.
New Year’s Day is a melancholy and a tedious one for everybody whose public or private relations do not make it an exceptionally interesting one.
There is the alteration in the date, for one thing, which is provocative of thought, and there is the enforced idleness for another, coming upon energetic folk like a temporary paralysis and leaving them nothing but meditation wherewith to employ themselves.
X: Princess Sonia’s Bath
“Thirty degrees, centigrade, Princess! Your bath is getting cold: you must get out!”
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He turned his head, and plunging his hand into the bath in the most natural manner possible, took out the thermometer which was floating on the perfumed water.
“Thirty degrees, centigrade, Princess! Your bath is getting cold: you must get out!”
In her blank astonishment Princess Sonia did not know whether to laugh or cry. Was she alone with a monster who, after having played with her as a cat plays with a mouse, would suddenly turn and kill her?
XII: A Knockout Blow
Love always means misery for working people like us.
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“That’s all foolishness. Love is only stupid, and ought to be guarded against as the worst possible mistake.
Love always means misery for working people like us.
”
XV: The Mad Woman’s Plot
A man ceases to be insane the moment he begins to comprehend that he is insane.
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he has to concoct some explanation, and very gradually his reasoning power is restored.
A man ceases to be insane the moment he begins to comprehend that he is insane.
”
The brain is a pathetically frail thing,
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“
The brain is a pathetically frail thing,
” he said. “You could not have a more striking case to prove it: that poor lady, whom you believed to be cured, suddenly having a typical crisis of her form of insanity provoked by—what? Neither you nor I look particularly like assassins, do we?”
XVII: At the Saint-Anthony’s Pig
“Fantômas forbids you to do it! And if you disobey, you die!”
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Lower still, but yet more peremptorily, the voice became audible again.
“Fantômas forbids you to do it! And if you disobey, you die!”
The nurse dropped back upon the bench half fainting with fright, and the row in the supper room grew worse. Three men were fighting now, the green man being at grips with two at once.
XX: A Cup of Tea
Love is good nourishment for the soul, but not for the body.
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“I don’t quite see the connection,” Lady Beltham answered. “
Love is good nourishment for the soul, but not for the body.
However, a good appetite is nothing to be ashamed of, and you ought to keep your roses for your future husband, and qualify in every way to be an excellent mother of a family.”
Man’s duty is to persuade and forgive, not to judge and punish. Kindness breeds kindness, and it is pity that wins amendment.
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“I object to the under-steward doing any such thing without referring to me first,” Lady Beltham exclaimed warmly. “
Man’s duty is to persuade and forgive, not to judge and punish. Kindness breeds kindness, and it is pity that wins amendment.
Why should a subordinate, my under-steward, presume to do what I would not permit myself to do?”
XXVI: A Mysterious Crime
The night was inky black. The keenest eye could make out nothing at all distinctly, even at the distance of a few yards: the darkness was so dense as to seem absolutely solid.
Show the passage
the rain was lashing down more fiercely, and the wind was blowing harder still, making the slender poplars along the railway line bow and bend before the squalls and assume the most fantastic shapes, but vaguely shown against the night.
The night was inky black. The keenest eye could make out nothing at all distinctly, even at the distance of a few yards: the darkness was so dense as to seem absolutely solid.
Nevertheless, along the railway embankment, a man was making his way with steady step, seeming not a whit disturbed by the tragic horror of the storm.
Who would have thought, when I was in America, that I should ever find it so useful to have learnt how to jump a train?
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the grass is thick, so I can run, and the line is so straight that I shall see the lights of the train a long way off.” A thin smile curled his lips. “
Who would have thought, when I was in America, that I should ever find it so useful to have learnt how to jump a train?
”
Such a number of awful murders and crimes are being perpetrated every day that you would think not one, but a dozen Fantômas were at work!
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“You really aren’t,” the other agreed. “
Such a number of awful murders and crimes are being perpetrated every day that you would think not one, but a dozen Fantômas were at work!
”
XXVII: Three Surprising Incidents
He would far rather be called a fool, than found out to be a knave and an accomplice.
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Fuselier, who would be in a fine rage when he learned that his captive had escaped him. Nibet meant to pretend ignorance and even stupidity.
He would far rather be called a fool, than found out to be a knave and an accomplice.
About half-past eleven Nibet got up; Gurn’s escape must certainly be known at the prison by this time.
If Gurn is in prison at the present moment it is because he has his own reasons for being there. But who is able to predict the future?
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“It’s not all over yet,” he declared. “Indeed, it is only just beginning. What if we only wanted to test you, and prove your quality? Make your mind easy, Nibet.
If Gurn is in prison at the present moment it is because he has his own reasons for being there. But who is able to predict the future?
”
XXIX: Verdict and Sentence
Everything comes to light sooner or later.
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I spoke today, because I could keep silent no longer; if I am still without some explanations in detail, I am sure I shall have them some day.
Everything comes to light sooner or later.
And as to the two facts you have just put before me, I would reply that there is no proof that M. Rambert was lost in the wreck of the Lancaster: it has not been legally established that he ever was on board that ship.
Nothing: except that anything is possible to Fantômas.
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“
Nothing: except that anything is possible to Fantômas.
”
XXX: An Assignation
I hope not, for if there is one thing of which one never tires here below, it is Woman, the peerless rainbow that illuminates this vale of tears!
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“Heavens, I hope not!” exclaimed the actor. “
I hope not, for if there is one thing of which one never tires here below, it is Woman, the peerless rainbow that illuminates this vale of tears!
”
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