Gold, for the instant, lost its lustre in his eyes, for there were countless treasures of the heart which it could never purchase. ~ Nicholas Nickleby
The wit of the Counting-House
The wit of the Counting-House became in a moment as mute as the row of leathern fire-buckets hanging up behind him. Such vapid and flat daylight as filtered through the ground-glass windows and skylights, leaving a black sediment upon the panes, showed the books and papers, and the figures bending over them, enveloped in a studious gloom, and as much abstracted in appearance, from the world without, as if they were assembled at the bottom of the sea; while a mouldy little strong room in the obscure perspective, where a shaded lamp was always burning, might have represented the cavern of some ocean monster, looking on with a red eye at these mysteries of the deep. ~ Dombey and Son
Take nothing on its looks;
"Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule." ~ Great Expectations
“There are strings,” said Mr.
“There are strings,” said Mr. Tappertit, flourishing his bread-and-cheese knife in the air, “in the human heart that had better not be wibrated.” ~ Barnaby Rudge
It is one of those
It is one of those problems of human nature, which may be noted down, but not solved; — although Ralph felt no remorse at that moment for his conduct towards the innocent, true-hearted girl; although his libertine clients had done precisely what he had expected, precisely what he most wished, and precisely what would tend most to his advantage, still he hated them for doing it, from the very bottom of his soul. ~ Nicholas Nickleby
Dombey sat in the corner
Dombey sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great arm-chair by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, carefully disposed on a low settee immediately in front of the fire and close to it, as if his constitution were analogous to that of a muffin, and it was essential to toast him brown while he was very new. ~ Dombey and Son
Heart of London, there is
Heart of London, there is a moral in thy every stroke! as I look on at thy indomitable working, which neither death, nor press of life, nor grief, nor gladness out of doors will influence one jot, I seem to hear a voice within thee which sinks into my heart, bidding me, as I elbow my way among the crowd, have some thought for the meanest wretch that passes, and, being a man, to turn away with scorn and pride from none that bear the human shape. ~ Master Humphrey’s Clock
Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery
"Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery good game, vhen you ain’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores, in which case it gets too excitin’ to be pleasant." ~ The Pickwick Papers
The Capacity for Good or Evil
It is known, to the force of a single pound weight, what the engine will do; but, not all the calculators of the National Debt can tell me the capacity for good or evil, for love or hatred, for patriotism or discontent, for the decomposition of virtue into vice, or the reverse, at any single moment in the soul of one of these its quiet servants, with the composed faces and the regulated actions. ~ Hard Times
A Skilful Flatterer
Although a skilful flatterer is a most delightful companion, if you can keep him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complimenting other people. ~ Nicholas Nickleby
