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Charles Dickens Quotes - Page 22

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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

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.

Charles Dickens
Exercise, Men, Sight
Charles Dickens (2005). “A Tale of Two Cities - Literary Touchstone Edition”, p.87, Prestwick House Inc

and, unlike the celebrated herd in the poem, they were not forty children conducting themselves as one, but every child was conducting itself like forty.

Charles Dickens
Children, Herds, Conducting
Charles Dickens (2004). “A Christmas Carol (Sparklesoup Classics)”, p.27, Sparklesoup LLC

I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart

Charles Dickens
Heart, Lips, My Heart
CHARLES DICKENS (1871). “THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK, AND SKETCHES BY "BOZ".”, p.222

May not the complaint, that common people are above their station, often take its rise in the fact of uncommon people being below theirs?

Charles Dickens
People, Literature, May
Charles Dickens (1839). “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby”, p.160

Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; - the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!

Charles Dickens
Liberty, Lasts, Fraternity
Charles Dickens (1868). “A Tale of Two Cities”, p.320

I think the Romans must have aggravated one another very much, with their noses. Perhaps, they became the restless people they were, in consequence.

Charles Dickens
Thinking, People, Noses
Charles Dickens (1872). “A Cyclopedia of the Best Thoughts of Charles Dickens”, p.337

Without strong affection, and humanity of heart, and gratitude to that Being whose code is mercy, and whose great attribute is benevolence to all things that breathe, true happiness can never be attained.

Charles Dickens
Happiness, Gratitude, Strong
Charles Dickens (1839). “Oliver Twist; Or, the Parish Boy's Progress”, p.364

I can see others in the sunlight; I can see our boats' crews and our athletic young men on the glistening water, or speckled with the moving lights of sunlit leaves; but I myself am always in the shadow looking on. Not unsympathetically, - God forbid! - but looking on alone, much as I looked at Sylvia from the shadows of the ruined house, or looked at the red gleam shining through the farmer's windows, and listened to the fall of dancing feet, when all the ruin was dark that night in the quadrangle.

Charles Dickens
Nature, Moving, Fall
Charles Dickens (2014). “Hard Times (And Other Stories)”, p.595, Jazzybee Verlag

As I said just now, the world has gone past me. I don't blame it; but I no longer understand it. Tradesmen are not the same as they used to be, apprentices are not the same, business is not the same, business commodities are not the same. Seven-eighths of my stock is old-fashioned. I am an old-fashioned man in an old-fashioned shop, in a street that is not the same as I remember it. I have fallen behind the time, and am too old to catch it again.

Charles Dickens
Character, Past, Men
Charles Dickens (1867). “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].”, p.25

Indeed the worthy housewife was of such a capricious nature, that she not only attained a higher pitch of genius than Macbeth, in respect of her ability to be wise, amazed, temperate and furious, loyal and neutral in an instant, but would sometimes ring the changes backwards and forwards on all possible moods and flights in one short quarter of an hour; performing, as it were, a kind of triple bob major on the peal of instruments in the female belfry, with a skilfulness and rapidity of execution that astonished all who heard her.

Charles Dickens
Wise, Character, Interesting

You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. Stick to Facts, sir!

Charles Dickens
Animal, Mind, Facts
Charles Dickens (1867). “Barnaby Rudge: And, Hard Times”, p.375

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.

Charles Dickens
Lying, Light, Giving
Charles Dickens (2009). “The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books”, p.31, Cosimo, Inc.

Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.

Charles Dickens
Life, Moral, Existence
'Martin Chuzzlewit' (1844) ch. 9 (Mr Pecksniff)

There can't be a quarrel without two parties, and I won't be one. I will be a friend to you in spite of you. So now you know what you've got to expect

Charles Dickens
Party, Two, Quarrels
Charles Dickens (1850). “The Personal History of David Copperfield”, p.439

I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude.

Charles Dickens
Stars, Men, Would Be
Charles Dickens (2012). “Great Expectations Thrift Study Edition”, p.38, Courier Corporation

I found Uriah reading a great fat book, with such demonstrative attention, that his lank forefinger followed up every line as he read, and made clammy tracks along the page (or so I fully believed) like a snail.

Charles Dickens
Book, Reading, Character
Charles Dickens (1867). “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].”, p.141

'I believe, Mr. Snitchey,' said Alfred, 'there are quiet victories and struggles, great sacrifices of self, and noble acts of heroism, in it - even in many of its apparent lightnesses and contradictions - not the less difficult to achieve, because they have no earthly chronicle or audience - done every day in nooks and corners, and in little households, and in men's and women's hearts - any one of which might reconcile the sternest man to such a world, and fill him with belief and hope in it.

Charles Dickens
Inspirational, Believe, Struggle
Charles Dickens (2009). “The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books”, p.259, Cosimo, Inc.

What an immense impression Paris made upon me. It is the most extraordinary place in the world!

Charles Dickens
Paris, World, Made
Charles Dickens, Jenny Hartley (2012). “The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens”, p.136, Oxford University Press

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.

Charles Dickens
Hair, Foundation, Female
Charles Dickens, General Press (2016). “A Tale of Two Cities: A Story of the French Revolution”, p.252, GENERAL PRESS

I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul...Since I knew you, I have been troubled by a remorse that I thought would never reproach me again, and have heard whispers from old voices impelling me upward, that I thought were silent for ever. I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight. A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.

Charles Dickens
Dream, Fighting, Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Charles Dickens
Inspirational, Time, Cities
A Tale of Two Cities bk. 1, ch. 1 (1859)

... Natural affections and instincts, my dear sir, are the most beautiful of the Almighty's works, but like other beautiful works of His, they must be reared and fostered, or it is as natural that they should be wholly obscured, and that new feelings should usurp their place, as it is that the sweetest productions of the earth, left untended, should be choked with weeds and briers.

Charles Dickens
Beautiful, Weed, Feelings
Charles Dickens (1866). “Works: ¬The life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby ; 2”, p.186

Give me a moment, because I like to cry for joy. It's so delicious, John dear, to cry for joy.

Charles Dickens
Giving, Joy, Cry
Charles Dickens (2016). “Our Mutual Friend”, p.672, Xist Publishing

An unfinished coffin on black tressels, which stood in the middle of the shop, looked so gloomy and death-like that a cold tremble came over him, every time his eyes wandered in the direction of the dismal object: from which he almost expected to see some frightful form slowly rear its head, to drive him mad with terror.

Charles Dickens
Eye, Mad, Black
Charles Dickens (2003). “Oliver Twist”, p.53, Collector's Library

If you could see my legs when I take my boots off, you'd form some idea of what unrequited affection is.

Charles Dickens
Funny, Humorous, Ideas
'Dombey and Son' (1848) ch. 48 (Mr Toots)

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