With pearls about life, business and women, this rundown of Dickens gold will leave you, like Oliver, wanting more.
Charles John Huffam Dickens was quite the man. For what he lost in hair follicles, he more than made up for in facial hair - oh, and he wasn't that bad of a writer, either. With Dickens' classic tales as adored now as they were in his native 19th century, virtually all of them have since made their way to the stage, TV or cinema screen. Safe to assume, then, that he had a brain in him (though had he of mastered eternal life he'd be absolutely minted from movie rights).
So, whether you're in need of advice on love, life, religion business or even trifles - Mr. Dickens is suitably prepared to inspire you. Take it away, Chaz...
(Images: Rex)
Oliver Twist (1838)
“Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine.”
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838)
“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.”
Hard Times (1854)
“There is a wisdom of the head, and... there is a wisdom of the heart.”
David Copperfield (1850)
“The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.' Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.”
Great Expectations (1860)
“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.”
Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
“Here's the rule for bargains. 'Do other men, for they would do you.' That's the true business precept.”
Our Mutual Friend (1865)
“No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.”
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
“There is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair.”
A Christmas Carol (1843)
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
The Pickwick Papers (1836)
“Poetry makes life what lights and music do the stage.”
Bleak House (1853)
“Constancy in love is a good thing; but it means nothing, and is nothing, without constancy in every kind of effort.”
Hunted Down (1859)
“A very little key will open a very heavy door.”
Oliver Twist (1838)
“There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.”
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838)
“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.”
Hard Times (1854)
“Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
David Copperfield (1850)
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.”
Great Expectations (1860)
“Ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies.”
Our Mutual Friend (1865)
“Love, though said to be afflicted with blindness, is a vigilant watchman.”
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
“A day wasted on others is not wasted on one's self.”
A Christmas Carol (1843)
“No space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused.”
Bleak House (1853)
“A word in earnest is as good as a speech.”
Oliver Twist (1838)
“Women can always put things in fewest words. Except when it's blowing up; and then they lengthen it out.”
Hard Times (1854)
“Do the wise thing and the kind thing too, and make the best of us and not the worst.”
David Copperfield (1850)
“A loving heart [is] better and stronger than wisdom.”
Great Expectations (1860)
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and [teaches you] to understand what your heart used to be.”
Our Mutual Friend (1865)
“A heart well worth winning, and well won. A heart that, once won, goes through fire and water for the winner, and never changes, and is never daunted.”
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
“Death may beget life, but oppression can beget nothing other than itself.”
A Christmas Carol (1843)
“You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
Great Expectations (1860)
“Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her!”
David Copperfield (1850)
“Trifles make the sum of life. ”
