"Oh, you know what I think about duels. I explained my ideas to you in Rome, don't you remember?"
"Despite which, my dear Count, I found you just now, this very morning, engaged in a pastime that seems to accord ill with those ideas."
"Because, you must understand, my dear friend, one should never be exclusive. When one lives among madmen, one should train as a maniac. From one minute to the next, some hothead, with no greater reason to seek a quarrel with me than you have to seek one with Beauchamp, will come and hunt me out on the first flimsy pretext he can find, or send me his seconds, or insult me in a public place. Well, I shall be obliged to kill him." (78.166-8)
Monte Cristo would no doubt be more responsive if he felt Albert had a reason to quarrel. His reaction is a variation on the "harm done for no cause" argument.
Quote 2
"Oh, father," said Albert, smiling, "you clearly do not know the Count of Monte Cristo. He finds satisfaction elsewhere than in the things of this world and does not aspire to any honours, taking only those that can fit on his passport."
"That is the most accurate description of myself that I have ever heard," the stranger said. (41.34-35)
By neglecting the expected honors, the Count distinguishes himself from the crowd. His lack of ambition – normal ambition, anyway – is worth just as much as a more conventional man's hard work.