Dickensians! discussion

Do you have a favourite quotation by Charles Dickens? Or a dozen or more, perhaps? This is where we can share quotations from Charles Dickens's novels, letters, or other works, which we really like :)

EDIT: Of course some quotations acts as spoilers. So please be aware that comments 48 onwards are spoilerish about Dombey and Son.

ADDED: We can also record quotations mentioning Charles Dickens in this thread.

And I'll kick it off with one for "Aunt Betsey's Fan Club", from our recent group read of David Copperfield:

“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.”
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

I could have chosen a bazillion others. One of the most quotable writers who ever lived.

Isn't he, Sara? I like that one; not one I would remember either :)

There is the opening lines of David Copperfield: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” I’ve never forgotten them because being the hero or not of your own life seem to apply to everyone.

I love that line! It's so clever as it makes us think, and also tells us succinctly who is narrating :)

Here's another from David Copperfield - the unforgettable Mr. Micawber:

Love them both. Another from Copperfield that struck me as being the perfect way to describe someone my age looking back on life.

"Let me think, as I look back upon that flowing water, now a dry channel overgrown with leaves, whether there are any marks along its course, by which I can remember how it ran."

Ooooh I remember that one - so poetic :) I wonder if it's just because we read it so recently.

Oh, I think so, Jean. I can't quote a single line from Little Dorrit, but I'll bet I can cite dozens of quotes after we have finished it here.

True LOL!

What a good idea to set up a thread for the quotations, Jean. Thank you for the great quotations Jean, Sara and France-Andrée. When I was reading David Copperfield, I copied some quotations, and now I’ve chosen this one to share with the group.



P.S. That’s my finger in the picture. I was lying on a green meadow, and that butterfly just landed on my finger.

That is just beautiful Milena, in every way. Thank you :)

Please just type in the box and share your others, if you like!

Gorgeous pic and great quote, Milena.

Lovely photograph and quote, Milena. Such good luck when a butterfly lands on you.

RULES OF LIFE ACCORDING TO AUNT BETSEY

Quotations for "Aunt Betsey's Fan Club".
Rules of life according to our favourite aunt:

1) “Never,” said my aunt, “be mean in anything; never be false, never be cruel. Avoid those three vices, Trot, and I can always be hopeful for you. (quoted by Jean)

2) "It’s in vain, Trot, to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present." (quoted by Mila)

3) "Janet! Donkeys!" (quoted by Jean)

4) - Uriah Heep: There have been some changes in the office since I was an humble clerk, but I'm not changed, Miss Trotwood.
- Aunt Betsy Trotwood: I think you're pretty constant to the promise of your youth, if that's any satisfaction to you.
(quoted by Sara)

I'm afraid the one which always springs to my mind first is the one which makes me laugh:

"Janet! Donkeys!"

But this is so endearing, it must surely be one for members of Aunt Betsey's fan club :D

This famous Dickens quote made me laugh out loud. It's about Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby.

"He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favor of two."

Oh that one is priceless Mark! It's one of my personal favourites too :D

Bionic Jean wrote: "I'm afraid the one which always springs to my mind first is the one which makes me laugh:

"Janet! Donkeys!"

But this is so endearing, it must surely be one for members of Aunt Betsey's fan club :D"

Ha ha ha Jean, I agree: donkeys, keep off aunt Betsey’s grass. Obviously I updated my message 15 above. :D

Mark wrote: "This famous Dickens quote made me laugh out loud. It's about Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby.

"He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favor of two.""

Oh, I remember that Mark. I love Dickens when he uses this kind of humour. It made me laugh out too!

OK, another one from Aunt Betsey that I marked:

Uriah Heep: There have been some changes in the office since I was an humble clerk, but I'm not changed, Miss Trotwood.

Aunt Betsy Trotwood: I think you're pretty constant to the promise of your youth, if that's any satisfaction to you.

Sara wrote: "OK, another one from Aunt Betsey that I marked:

Uriah Heep: There have been some changes in the office since I was an humble clerk, but I'm not changed, Miss Trotwood.

Aunt Betsy Trotwood: I thin..."

Wow Sara, this is terrific! I can’t stop laughing. It goes right away to our collection :-))

Oh I remember that one!!

Do you think if we all produced a little gift book of "Aunt Betsey's Aphorisms", it would be a good seller at Christmas? ;)

Absolutely ha ha ha

Mila - If you like, you could put a header on your "Rules of Life" comment 15, and that would make our Aunt Betsey collection really stand out :)

Terrific idea, Jean. I would buy one and I'd be over the moon to receive one! 😍

Bionic Jean wrote: "Mila - If you like, you could put a header on your "Rules of Life" comment 15, and that would make our Aunt Betsey collection really stand out :)"

Excellent idea, Jean! Is the header you are thinking about something like I just did in message 15, in bold characters?

Yes! I thought that was really clever - and eye-catching :)

“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.” ("Great Expectations")

The booklet is such a great idea, every time she speaks she says something worth remembering.

I love the Great Expectations quote too.

"what was a girl to Dombey and Son!...a bad Boy....nothing more!" Mr Dombey like Henry VIII and so many others underestimated the value of a female heir.

Helen wrote: "“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.” ("Great Expectations")"

Beautiful quotation, Helen

Jim wrote: ""what was a girl to Dombey and Son!...a bad Boy....nothing more!" Mr Dombey like Henry VIII and so many others underestimated the value of a female heir."

(view spoiler)[ Yes, poor Florence. (hide spoiler)]

Helen - that's one of the perfect romantic quotations from Charles Dickens, which just make me swoon :)

To be rapidly brought down to Earth by Jim's! Mr. Dombey's pithy comment certainly expressed his blinkered views well.

Both great quotations, thanks :)

Who has a favourite, or memorable Dickensian quotation to share?

It is 11am in Charles Dickens home country, on Remembrance Sunday, 8th November 2020.



Here is an apt quotation by him:

"Violent deeds live after men upon the earth, and traces of war and bloodshed will survive in mournful shapes long after those who worked the desolation are but atoms of earth themselves."

~ The Old Curiosity Shop

Beautiful quotation and so much truth! I can look back and see how war has changed the direction of all our lives, not only in the political sphere, but mainly in the absence of some of the very best of men, who had so much to contribute, but were left early upon a battlefield.

My favorite passage is too long to write out in full (several paragraphs! Classic Dickens) but it's this soul-rending reflection from, "A Tale of Two Cities":
"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. ....it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life’s end."

Amazing quotation :) Here it is Lauren:

“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this. No more can I turn the leaves of this dear book that I loved, and vainly hope in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure and other things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut with a a spring, for ever and for ever, when I had read but a page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality, to me, or than I am to them?”

― Charles Dickens -A Tale of Two Cities

Yes, it's beautiful and chilling. Such a haunting passage.

Very poignant, and I suspect more and more apt for us as we age and part with so many that we loved and can only realize we still never knew well enough.

You're so right. It's the kind of quote we can come back to over and over again.

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

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

A favourite of mine too, Cozy-Pug. It always seems relevant, and sometimes I have it as my cover pic on Facebook! Thank you :)

"Ah, Miss Harriet, it would do us no harm to remember oftener than we do, that vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess! His pride shows well in this"
Dombey and Son

That's quite profound Jenny. It struck me so, when we read it :)

It really stuck out to me when I read it, and is quute true sometimes.

On our final day of reading Dombey and Son, has anyone got some memorable quotations from it to share?

‘If you will take me for your wife, Walter, I will love you dearly. If you will let me go with you, Walter, I will go to the world’s end without fear. I can give up nothing for you—I have nothing to resign, and no one to forsake; but all my love and life shall be devoted to you, and with my last breath I will breathe your name to God if I have sense and memory left.’

Florence says this to Walter, and I think it's one of the most beautiful declarations of love I've ever read.

I agree Cozy_Pug, it does just make you melt :) And I'm off back to our group read thread, as something has now occurred to me!