Quotessence
Home / Authors / Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsHeartWorldCharacterLoveSaidWords Of WisdomInteresting CharactersFunny

Famous Charles Dickens Quotes

“I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw no shadow of another parting from her.”

FirstsLongHandsLightLeftMorningSawsMinesExpectationsShadowEveningRisingBroadsLong AgoRuinedMistPartingRisenTranquilGreat ExpectationsExpanseGreat Expectations ImportantMorning Mist
Author:Charles Dickens
Create image

“You fear the world too much,' she answered gently. 'All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off, one by one, until the master passion, Gain, engrosses you. Have I not?”

WorldFallPassionChanceToo MuchMastersGainsAspirationReproach
Book:A Christmas carol in prose, being a ghost story of Christmas: With original art and narration by Jon Langford
Create image

“And what an example of the power of dress young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar;—it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have fixed his station in society. But now he was enveloped in the old calico robes, that had grown yellow in the same service; he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once—a parish child—the orphan of a workhouse—the humble, half-starved drudge—to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all, and pitied by none.”

WorldChildrenHas BeensHardMightYoungHalfExampleDressesHumbleStrangerFixedStationsYellowMight Have BeenTwistsBlanketCoveringBeggarDespisedOrphanRobesParishNoblemenWorkhousesOliver Twist
Author:Charles Dickens
Create image

“They are Man's and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

MenWantWritingGirlFatherBoysWrittenIgnoranceDegreesChristmasDoomBrowsThis GirlCarolsScroogeChristmas Carol
Book:A Christmas Carol - NOVEL & MOVIE EDITION
Create image

“Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away.”

MenHelpingAbilityEmotionCitiesSunExerciseSightRoseSensibleIncapableInteresting CharactersBlightResigningTale Of Two Cities
Book:A Tale of Two Cities - Literary Touchstone Edition
Create image

“There have been occasions in my later life (I suppose as in most lives) when I have felt for a time as if a thick curtain had fallen on all its interest and romance, to shut me out from anything save dull endurance any more. Never has that curtain dropped so heavy and blank, as when my way in life lay stretched out straight before me through the newly-entered road of apprenticeship to Joe.”

IfsWayHas BeensRomanceFeltInterestExpectationsLaysHeavyOccasionsMy WayFallenDullEnduranceThickBlankCurtainsGreat ExpectationsApprenticeshipGreat Expectations ImportantWay In Life
Book:A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations (Oprah's Book Club): Two Novels
Create image

“All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I cheat myself. Surely a curious thing. That I should innocently take a bad half-crown of somebody else's manufacture, is reasonable enough; but that I should knowingly reckon the spurious coin of my own make, as good money!”

ShouldSelfEnoughEarthMy OwnHalfWords Of WisdomCuriousReasonableCrownsCheatCoinsPretenceGood MoneySwindlersGreat Expectations ImportantSwindling
Book:Great Expectations
Create image

“I don't feel any vulgar gratitude to you[for helping me]. I almost feel as if You ought to be grateful to ME, for giving you the opportunity of enjoying the luxury of generosity. . . I may have come into the world expressly for the purpose of increasing your stock of happiness. I may have been born to be a benefactor to you, by giving you an opportunity of assisting me.”

IfsWorldGivingFeelsMayHas BeensHelpingPurposeOpportunityEnjoyBornOughtGratitudeGratefulLuxuryGenerosityBe GratefulVulgarBenefactorsAssisting
Book:Bleak House: Easyread Edition
Create image

“Sir," returned Mrs. Sparsit, " I cannot say that i have heard him precisely snore, and therefore must not make that statement. But on winter evenings, when he has fallen asleep at his table, I have heard him, what I should prefer to describe as partially choke. I have heard him on such occasions produce sounds of a nature similar to what may be heard in dutch clocks. Not," said Mrs. Sparsit, with a lofty sense of giving strict evidence, " That I would convey any imputation on his moral character. Far from it.”

GivingShouldMaySaidCharacterSoundMoralHeardProduceEvidenceTablesWinterStatementsEveningOccasionsClockFallenStrictChokeLoftyDutchMoral Character
Book:Hard Times
Create image

“She was the most wonderful woman for prowling about the house. How she got from one story to another was a mystery beyond solution. A lady so decorous in herself, and so highly connected, was not to be suspected of dropping over the banisters or sliding down them, yet her extraordinary facility of locomotion suggested the wild idea.”

IdeasStoriesHouseWonderfulMysterySolutionsExtraordinaryConnectedDroppingFacilityProwlingWonderful Woman
Book:The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: Barnaby Rudge
Create image

“How could you give me life, and take from me all the inappreciable things that raise it from the state of conscious death? Where are the graces of my soul? Where are the sentiments of my heart? What have you done, oh, Father, What have you done with the garden that should have bloomed once, in this great wilderness here? Said louisa as she touched her heart.”

GivingShouldHeartSaidSoulStatesDoneFatherGraceMy HeartConsciousGardenShould HaveGive MeRaisesMy SoulTouchedWildernessSentiments
Book:Hard Times
Create image

“You have been so careful of me that I never had a child's heart. You have trained me so well that I never dreamed a child's dream. You have dealt so wisely with me, Father ,from my cradle to this hour, that I never had a child's belief or a child's fear. Mr. Gradgrind was quite moved by his success, and by this testimony to it. " My dear Louisa," said he, you abundantly repay my care. Kiss me, my dear girl.”

WellsHeartChildrenHas BeensSaidDreamCareGirlFatherBeliefHoursKissingMovedDearCarefulTestimonyCradleKiss MeDreams You Have
Book:Hard Times
Create image