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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens Quotes

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Famous Charles Dickens Quotes

“Father Time is not always a hard parent and though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; making them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigor. With such people the gray head is but the impression of the old fellow's hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.”

PeopleMenGivingWellsHeartChildrenHardEnoughHandsAgeYoungUsedSpiritFatherParentBlessingQuietMen And WomenFellowsLaysAgingLeavingImpressionOld ManGrayWrinklesCalendarsVigorNotchesFather Time
Book:Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty'
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“To be shelterless and alone in the open country, hearing the wind moan and watching for day through the whole long weary night; to listen to the falling rain, and crouch for warmth beneath the lee of some old barn or rick, or in the hollow of a tree; are dismal things - but not so dismal as the wandering up and down where shelter is, and beds and sleepers are by thousands; a houseless rejected creature.”

LongWarCountryWholeNightFallPovertyTreeWindBedCreaturesRainHearingWanderWarmthShelterRejectedWearyHollowUp And DownBarnsSleepers
Book:Barnaby Rudge: And, Hard Times
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“Their demeanor is invariably morose, sullen, clownish and repulsive. I should think there is not, on the face of the earth, a people so entirely destitute of humor, vivacity, or the capacity for enjoyment.”

PeopleThinkingShouldEarthFacesCapacityEnjoymentSarcasticDestituteSullenDemeanorMoroseVivacity
Book:THE GREATEST DICKENS CLASSICS (Illustrated Edition): Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Hard Times, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend, The Life of Dickens
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“So the case stands, and under all the passion of the parties and the cries of battle lie the two chief moving causes of the struggle. Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means the loss of the same millions to the North. The love of money is the root of this as of many many other evils ... the quarrel between North and South is, as it stands, solely a fiscal quarrel.”

YearsMeanTwoMovingLyingPassionEvilLostCausesLossPartyLibertyMillionsCasesStruggleCryBattleRootsUnionsSouthLibertarianChiefsLibertarianismQuarrelsLove Of MoneySecessionNorth And South
Book:All the Year Round: A Weekly Journal
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“To see the butcher slap the steak before he laid it on the block, and give his knife a sharpening, was to forget breakfast instantly. It was agreeable too - it really was - to see him cut it off so smooth and juicy. There was nothing savage in the act, although the knife was large and keen; it was a piece of art, high art; there was delicacy of touch, clearness of tone, skilful handling of the subject, fine shading. It was the triumph of mind over matter; quite.”

GivingMindArtMatterForgetPiecesCuttingSubjectsFoodFineBlockTriumphToneBreakfastKnivesSavagesSmoothSlapSteakDelicacyButchersJuicySharpeningClearnessHigh Art
Book:Martin Chuzzlewit: Easyread Comfort Edition
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“All knives and forks were working away at a rate that was quite alarming; very few words were spoken; and everybody seemed to eat his utmost, in self defence, as if a famine were expected to set in before breakfast-time to-morrow morning, and it had become high time to assert the first law of nature.”

IfsFirstsSelfFunnyLawCultureMorningFoodCookingRateExpectedCulinaryBreakfastKnivesLaws Of NatureDefenceFamineForksMorrowFew WordsSelf Defence
Book:Martin Chuzzlewit: Easyread Edition
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“And could I look upon her without compassion, seeing her punishment in the ruin she was, in her profound unfitness for this earth on which she was placed, in the vanity of sorrow which had become a master mania, like the vanity of penitence, the vanity of remorse, the vanity of unworthiness, and other monstrous vanities that have been curses in this world?”

WorldLooksHas BeensEarthCompassionSeeingThis WorldMastersSorrowExpectationsProfoundPunishmentRuinsVanityCurseLook UpRemorseMonstrousManiaGreat ExpectationsPenitenceGreat Expectations Important
Book:Dickens Ultimate Christmas Collection: The Greatest Stories & Novels for Christmas Time: A Christmas Carol, Doctor Marigold, Oliver Twist, Tom Tiddler's Ground, The Holly-Tree and more (Illustrated): The Best Loved Christmas Classics in One Volume
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“Possibly we might even improve the world a little, if we got up early in the morning, and took off our coats to the work.”

IfsWorldLittlesMightMorningCoatsLife And LoveUp Early
Book:Charles Dickens's works. Charles Dickens ed. [18 vols. of a 21 vol. set. Wanting A child's history of England; Christmas stories; The mystery of Edwin Drood].
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“The present representative of the Dedlocks is an excellent master.He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any.If he were to make a discovery to the contrary, he would be simply stunned - would never recover himself, most likely, except to gasp and die.”

IfsCharacterWould BeDiesIndividualBornOpinionMastersDiscoveryIntentionContraryTyrannyExcellentRepresentativesStunnedBereft
Book:Bleak House
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“One great blemish in the popular mind of America and the prolific parent of an innumerable brood of evils, is Universal Distrust . . . you no sooner set up an idol firmly, than you are sure to pull it down and dash it into fragments: and this because directly you reward a benefactor, or a public servant, you distrust him, merely because he is rewarded . . . . Any man who attains a high place among you, from the President downwards, may date his downfall from that moment.”

MenMindMayMomentsAmericaEvilParentPresidentUniversalDown AndRewardsServantThat MomentIdolsDistrustFragmentsDownfallBenefactorsPublic ServantsHigh Places
Author:Charles Dickens
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“We must leave the discovery of this mystery, like all others, to time, and accident, and Heaven's pleasure.”

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Book:Charles Dickens's works. Charles Dickens ed. [18 vols. of a 21 vol. set. Wanting A child's history of England; Christmas stories; The mystery of Edwin Drood].
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“But the moon came slowly up in all her gentle glory, and the stars looked out, and through the small compass of the grated window, as through the narrow crevice of one good deed in a murky life of guilt, the face of Heaven shone bright and merciful. He raised his head; gazed upward at the quiet sky, which seemed to smile upon the earth in sadness, as if the night, more thoughtful than the day, looked down in sorrow on the sufferings and evil deeds of men; and felt its peace sink deep into his heart.”

IfsMenHeartEarthFacesNightSufferingEvilHeavenStarsFeltNatureSadnessSkySorrowQuietMoonGloryWindowGuiltRaisedDeedsGentleThoughtfulGood DeedsCompassMercifulCrevice
Book:Barnaby Rudge, And, Hard Times: With Ten Illustrations
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“Heaven above was blue, and earth beneath was green; the river glistened like a path of diamonds in the sun; the birds poured forth their songs from the shady trees; the lark soared high above the waving corn; and the deep buzz of insects filled the air.”

EarthSongHeavenNatureSunPathAirTreeBirdRiversBlueGreenFilledDiamondInsectsCornBuzzShadyLarks
Book:Charles Dickens's works. Charles Dickens ed. [18 vols. of a 21 vol. set. Wanting A child's history of England; Christmas stories; The mystery of Edwin Drood].
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“In this way they went on, and on, and on-in the language of the story-books-until at last the village lights appeared before them, and the church spire cast a long reflection on the graveyard grass; as if it were a dial (alas, the truest in the world!) marking, whatever light shone out of Heaven, the flight of days and weeks and years, by some new shadow on that solemn ground.”

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Book:Works of Charles Dickens
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“You know what I am going to say. I love you. What other men may mean when they use that expression, I cannot tell. What I mean is that I am under the influence of some tremendous attraction which I have resisted in vain, and which overmasters me. You could draw me to fire, you could draw me to water, you could draw me to the gallows, you could draw me to any death, you could draw me to anything I have most avoided, you could draw me to any exposure and disgrace. This and the confusion of my thoughts, so that I am fit for nothing, is what I mean by your being the ruin of me.”

KnowsMenLoveMayMeanUseWaterFireInfluenceLove YouExpressionFitDrawsAttractionConfusionRuinsVainMy ThoughtsExposureAvoidedDisgraceSay I Love YouGallowsLiterary LoveMutual Attraction
Book:The Works of Charles Dickens: Our mutual friend
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