Jack Smith

“Hope to the last” said Newman, clapping him on the back. “Always hope, that’s a dear boy. Never leave off hoping, it don’t answer. Do you mind me, Nick? It don’t answer. Don’t leave a stone unturned. It’s always something to know you’ve done the most you could. But don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doing anything. Hope, hope, to the last!”
― Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

“Homely filth begrimed him, homely parasites devour him, homely sores are in him, homely rags are on him: native ignorance, the growth of English soil and climate, sinks his immortal nature lower than the beasts that perish. Stand forth, Jo, in uncompromising colors! From the sole of thy foot to the crown of thy head, there is nothing interesting about thee.”
― Charles Dickens

“A truth first encountered can be very funny. When someone else's truth is the same as your truth, and he seems to be saying it just for you, that's great.”
― Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye

“Darkness rests upon Tom-all-alone’s. Dilating and dilating since the sun went down last night, it has gradually swelled until it fills every void in the place. For a time there were some dungeon lights burning, as the lamp of Life burns in Tom-all-alone’s, heavily, heavily, in the nauseous air, and winking – as that lamp, too, winks in Tom-all-alone’s – at many horrible things. But they were blotted out. The moon has eyes Tom with a dull cold stare, as admitting some puny emulation of herself in his desert region unfit for life and blasted by volcanic fires; but she has passed on, and is gone. The blackest nightmare in the infernal stables grazes on Tom-all-alone’s, and Tom is fast asleep.”
― Charles Dickens, Bleak House