The Count of Monte Cristo

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man, you look at everything from the material and vulgar view of
society, beginning with man, and ending with man--that is to say, in
the most restricted, most narrow view which it is possible for human
understanding to embrace."

"Pray, sir, explain yourself," said Villefort, more and more astonished,
"I really do--not--understand you--perfectly."

"I say, sir, that with the eyes fixed on the social organization of
nations, you see only the springs of the machine, and lose sight of
the sublime workman who makes them act; I say that you do not recognize
before you and around you any but those office-holders whose commissions
have been signed by a minister or king; and that the men whom God has
put above those office-holders, ministers, and kings, by giving them a
mission to follow out, instead of a post to fill--I say that they
escape your narrow, limited field of observation. It is thus that human
weakness fails, from its debilitated and imperfect organs. Tobias took