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David Copperfield

Book by Charles Dickens · 9 quotes · Love, Humility, Life

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David Copperfield Quotes

“The light, bold, fluttering little figure turned and came back safe to me, and I soon laughed at my fears, and at the cry I had uttered; fruitlessly in any case, for there was no one near. But there have been times since, in my manhood, many times there have been, when I have thought, is it possible, among the possibilities of hidden things, that in the sudden rashness of the child and her wild look so far off, there was any merciful attraction of her into danger, any tempting her towards him permitted on the part of her dead father, that her life might have a chance of ending that day. There has been a time since when I have wondered whether, if the life before her could have been revealed to me at a glance, and so revealed as that a child could fully comprehend it, and if her preservation could have depended on a motion of my hand, I ought to have held it up to save her. There has been a time since – I do not say it lasted long, but it has been – when I have asked myself the question, would it have been better for little Emily to have had the waters close above her head that morning in my sight; and when I have answered Yes, it would have been.”

LoveLifeSchoolFearWorryShameComing Of AgeHistorical FictionOrphanFamily Saga
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“He saw everything he related. It passed before him, as he spoke, so vividly, that, in the intensity of his earnestness, he presented what he described to me, with greater distinctness than I can express. I can hardly believe, writing now long afterwards, but that I was actually present in these scenes; they are impressed upon me with such an astonishing air of fidelity”

LoveMemoryDevotionStorytellingSinceritySelflessnessFidelityEarnestness
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“"And when you had made sure of the poor little fool," said my aunt - "God forgive me that I should call her so, and she gone where YOU won't go in a hurry - because you had not done wrong enough to her and hers, you must begin to train her, must you? begin to break her, like a poor caged bird, and wear her deluded life away, in teaching her to sing YOUR notes?"”

LoveShouldLittlesMadeSaidDoneEnoughPoorBreakGoneTeachingFoolBirdForgivingTrainNotesAuntForgive MeDeludedCagedGod ForgivesCaged BirdsGod Forgive Me
Book:David Copperfield
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“If I may so express it, I was steeped in Dora. I was not merely over head and ears in love with her, but I was saturated through and through. Enough love might have been wrung out of me, metaphorically speaking, to drown anybody in; and yet there would have remained enough within me, and all over me, to pervade my entire existence.”

IfsLoveMayHas BeensEnoughMightExistenceEarsMight Have BeenSaturatedEnough Love
Book:David Copperfield
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