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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens Quotes

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Famous Charles Dickens Quotes

“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
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“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
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“We need be careful how we deal with those about us, when every death carries to some small circle of survivors, thoughts of so much omitted, and so little done- of so many things forgotten, and so many more which might have been repaired! There is no remorse so deep as that which is unavailing; if we would be spared its tortures, let us remember this, in time.”

IfsNeedsLittlesHas BeensDoneMightWould BeRememberDealsForgottenCarefulCirclesTortureCarrieSurvivorBe CarefulRemorseMight Have Been
Book:OLIVER TWIST (Illustrated Edition): Including
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“There are some upon this earth of yours,' returned the Spirit, 'who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name; who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.”

IfsKnowsEarthRememberSpiritPassionNamesStrangePrideHatredClaimsLaysIllDeedsEnvySelfishnessBigotryDoingsCarolsIll WillZealotChristmas Carol
Book:Christmas Books
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“Then idiots talk....of Energy. If there is a word in the dictionary under any letter from A to Z that I abominate, it is energy. It is such a conventional superstition, such parrot gabble! What the deuce!....But show me a good opportunity, show me something really worth being energetic about, and I'll show you energy.”

IfsShowsOpportunityEnergyLettersIdiotSuperstitionsConventionalShow MeDictionaryEnergeticParrotsGood OpportunityDeuces
Author:Charles Dickens
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“It would have been cruel in Miss Havisham, horribly cruel, to practise on the susceptibility of a poor boy, and to torture me through all these years with a vain hope and an idle pursuit, if she had reflected on the gravity of what she did. But I think she did not. I think that in the endurance of her own trial, she forgot mine, Estella.”

IfsThinkingYearsHas BeensPoorBoysMissingMinesExpectationsPursuitTrialsVainTortureEnduranceGravityIdlePractiseGreat ExpectationsSusceptibilityGreat Expectations ImportantPoor BoyHavishamMiss Havisham
Book:The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: Great Expectations
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“The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I love her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection.”

IfsMenHumansReasonFoundInfluenceSorrowPromiseTruth IsPerfectionIrresistibleDiscouragementGreat ExpectationsUnqualifiedRestraining
Book:Great Expectations: With an Introduction and Contemporary Criticism
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“The doctor seemed especially troubled by the fact of the robbery having been unexpected, and attempted in the night-time; as if it were the established custom of gentlemen in the housebreaking way to transact business at noon, and to make an appointment, by the twopenny post, a day or two previous.”

IfsWayTwoFactsNightDoctorsPostsGentlemanUnexpectedCustomsNoonAppointmentsRobberyNight Time
Book:Oliver Twist, Volume 2 (of 3) (Illustrations)
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“And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”

IfsMenWellsMaySaidAliveTinyChristmasBlessPossessedGod BlessInspirational ChristmasChristmas DayCarolsBest ChristmasChristmas MagicHoliday TraditionsChristmas CarolChristmas GivingBelieving In ChristmasMemorable Christmas
Book:A Christmas Carol
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“Fog everywhere. Fog up the river where it flows among green airs and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping, and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.... Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging in the misty clouds.”

PeopleIfsChanceCitiesAirSkyFlowRiversGreenRoundsCloudsBridgesDirtyPollutionFogMeadowsBalloonsMistyShippingPeeping
Author:Charles Dickens
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“Be guided, only by the healer of the sick, the raiser of the dead, the friend of all who were afflicted and forlorn, the patient Master who shed tears of compassion for our infirmities. We cannot but be right if we put all the rest away, and do everything in remembrance of Him. There is no vengeance and no infliction of suffering in His life, I am sure. There can be no confusion in following Him, and seeking for no other footsteps, I am certain!”

IfsCertainSufferingCompassionTearsMastersSickPatientSeekingFollowingConfusionShedRemembranceVengeanceFootstepsHealerInfirmityForlornInfliction
Book:The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: Little Dorrit
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“I mean a man whose hopes and aims may sometimes lie (as most men's sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all if it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is of the kind I care for.”

IfsMenWayShouldTryingKindMayMeanSometimesEnoughCareSpiritLyingLevelsProveAmbitionOrdinaryAimDareGenerousOver ItAmbitiousI CareUsefulnessGood ServiceGenerous Spirit
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Illustrated)
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“Above all, one hideous figure grew as familiar as if it had been before the general gaze from the foundations of the world - the figure of the sharp female called La Guillotine. It was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented hair from turning gray, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack.”

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Book:A Tale of Two Cities: A Story of the French Revolution
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“The two stand in the fast-thinning throng of victims, but they speak as if they were alone. Eye to eye, voice to voice, hand to hand, heart to heart, these two children of the Universal Mother, else so wide apart and differing, have come together on the dark highway, to repair home together and to rest in her bosom.”

IfsHeartChildrenTwoHomeHandsEyeTogetherMotherSpeakVoiceDarkUniversalVictimWideHighwaysBosomsHeart To Heart
Book:Four Novels: Great Expectations, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, and Hard Times
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“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”

IfsGivingLooksLightLyingPleasureImpossibleCostAddFortuneUnhappyEmsToilInsignificantChristmas Carol
Book:The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books
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“If I may ride with you, Citizen Evremonde, will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and it will give me more courage." As the patient eyes were lifted to his face, he saw a sudden doubt in them, and then astonishment. He pressed the work-worn, hunger-worn young fingers, and touched his lips. "Are you dying for him?" she whispered. "And his wife and child. Hush! Yes." "Oh, you will let me hold your brave hand, stranger?" "Hush! Yes, my poor sister; to the last.”

IfsGivingMayChildrenLittlesHandsEyeLastsFacesYoungPoorDoubtSawsWifeDyingCitizensWeakLet MeGive MeBraveFingersPatientLipsHungerStrangerTouchedNot AfraidWornAstonishmentHush
Author:Charles Dickens
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“Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. If a man habituated to a narrow circle of cares and pleasures, out of which he seldom travels, step beyond it, though for never so brief a space, his departure from the monotonous scene on which he has been an actor of importance would seem to be the signal for instant confusion. The mine which Time has slowly dug beneath familiar objects is sprung in an instant; and what was rock before, becomes but sand and dust.”

IfsMenHas BeensSeemsCareActorsChangeSpacePleasureStepsRocksObjectsMinesSceneImportanceCaringCirclesFamiliarConfusionDustInstantSandSignalsConfusingDepartureBegetsMonotonousSprung
Book:The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit ... With a Frontispiece, from a Drawing by F. Stone
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“If ever household affections and loves are graceful things, they are graceful in the poor. The ties that bind the wealthy and the proud to home may be forged on earth, but those which link the poor man to his humble hearth are of the true metal and bear the stamp of heaven.”

IfsMenInspirationalMayHomeEarthHeavenPoorBearsProudAnd LoveAffectionHumbleTiesWealthyLinksMetalsHouseholdStampsPoor ManForgedTies That Bind
Book:The Old Curiosity Shop
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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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