I never had one hour’s happiness in her society, and yet my mind all round the four-and-twenty hours was harping on the happiness of having her with me unto death. ~ Great Expectations
Quotes
The Sun Himself is Weak
The Sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on. ~ The Old Curiosity Shop
We are men of secluded
We are men of secluded habits, with something of a cloud upon our early fortunes, whose enthusiasm, nevertheless, has not cooled with age, whose spirit of romance is not yet quenched, who are content to ramble through the world in a pleasant dream, rather than ever waken again to its harsh realities. We are alchemists who would extract the essence of perpetual youth from dust and ashes, tempt coy Truth in many light and airy forms from the bottom of her well, and discover one crumb of comfort or one grain of good in the commonest and least-regarded matter that passes through our crucible. Spirits of past times, creatures of imagination, and people of to-day are alike the objects of our seeking, and, unlike the objects of search with most philosophers, we can insure their coming at our command. ~ Master Humphrey’s Clock
Upon the purple tree-tops far
Upon the purple tree-tops far away, and on the green height near at hand up which the shades were slowly creeping, there was an equal hush. Between the real landscape and its shadow in the water, there was no division; both were so untroubled and clear, and, while so fraught with solemn mystery of life and death, so hopefully reassuring to the gazer’s soothed heart, because so tenderly and mercifully beautiful. ~ Little Dorrit
A bell with an old
A bell with an old voice – which I dare say in its time had often said to the house, Here is the green farthingale, Here is the diamond-hilted sword, Here are the shoes with red heels and the blue solitaire, – sounded gravely in the moonlight, and two cherry-coloured maids came fluttering out to receive Estella. ~ Great Expectations
Change begets change
Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. ~ Martin Chuzzlewit
Men who look on nature,
Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision. ~ Oliver Twist
Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death
Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death;—the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine! ~ A Tale of Two Cities
“Repression is the only lasting
“Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend,” observed the Marquis, “will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof,” looking up to it, “shuts out the sky.” ~ A Tale of Two Cities
“O, Mrs. Clennam, Mrs. Clennam,”
“O, Mrs. Clennam, Mrs. Clennam,” said Little Dorrit, “angry feelings and unforgiving deeds are no comfort and no guide to you and me.” ~ Little Dorrit
