Quotes by Charles Dickens

“The age of chivalry is past. Bores have succeeded to dragons.”

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

“A boy's story is the best that is ever told.”

“There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.”

“Most men are individuals no longer so far as their business, its activities, or its moralities are concerned. They are not units but fractions.”

“The first rule of business is: Do other men for they would do you.”

“The one great principle of English law is to make business for itself.”

“That sort of half sigh, which, accompanied by two or three slight nods of the head, is pity's small change in general society.”

“Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.”

“Fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship and pass the rosy wine.”

“If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.”

“Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good words for the lips.”

“Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed. There ain't much credit in that.”

“Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.”

“It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations.”

“Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire.”

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!”

“Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.”

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.”

“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”

“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

“I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.”

“The men who learn endurance, are they who call the whole world, brother.”

“The civility which money will purchase, is rarely extended to those who have none.”

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.”

“To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.”

“Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature.”

“There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.”

“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.”

“There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.”

“There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.”

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

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