Charles Dickens
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season
of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to
heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far
like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its
being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison
only.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Heaven knows we need never be
ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth,
overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more
sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
The most important thing in life
is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.' Consider nothing
impossible, then treat possiblities as probabilities.
― Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
Out of my thoughts! You are part
of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read,
since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even
then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since on the river, on
the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the
darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been
the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted
with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more
real, or more impossible to displace with your hands, than your presence and
influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the
last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part
of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate
you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you
must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress
I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
