Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.
His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and critics and scholars recognized him as a literary genius by the twentieth century. In this article, we will share his most famous quotes.
About Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens is one of the most popular and best-loved authors of all time. His books have been translated into more than a hundred languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.
Dickens was born in England in 1812, the second child of John and Elizabeth Dickens. Charles Dickens’s parents were both English. His father worked as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office and was temporarily stationed in Portsmouth at the time of Charles’s birth.
The family then moved to Chatham, Kent, where they lived for three years before returning to London.
His family was poor. Charles worked hard all his life, first as a journalist and then as a novelist. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published in 1836 when he was only twenty-four years old. It was an instant success.
Dickens wrote many other great novels, including Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. He also wrote several short stories and essays. Dickens died in 1870 at the age of fifty-eight. Even though he is gone, his books are still loved by readers all over the world.
Here are the best Charles Dickens Quotes
Dickens was associated with many places where museums and festivals in his honour are located. Let’s take a look at some of the best Charles Dickens quotes.
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”
There is something about laughter and good humour that is truly contagious. When we see someone else laughing and being happy, it’s hard not to feel the same way. It’s like a positive emotion that is passed on from person to person.
And it’s not just that we mimic the facial expressions of those around us. Laughter and good humour actually have the power to change our mood and make us feel happier.
“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”
“Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart.”
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken but – I hope – into a better shape.”
“There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.”
“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.”
“It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
“And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death.”
“We need never be ashamed of our tears.”
This is such an important quote because it reminds us that it is okay to feel emotions and express them. Too often, we bottle up our feelings and pretend everything is okay when it’s not.
This can lead to all sorts of problems, both mentally and physically. So next time you’re feeling sad or angry or scared, don’t be afraid to let those tears flow. It might just be exactly what you need.
“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
“You have been the last dream of my soul.”
“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.”
“Love her, love her, love her! If she favors 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!”
“I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul.”
“In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.”
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot, and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.”
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.”
Charles Dickens had a natural gift for writing and was known to be one of the greatest authors in English literature history. He wrote numerous novels which provided readers with insight into society during his time period, but he is also renowned for the timeless and wise quotes that still have significance today.
Here, we look at some of Charles Dickens’s most profound quotes on life, words that will help us make sense of our journey through life!
“I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.”
Dickens believed that Christmas was a time for giving and caring. He believed that if people would focus on these things, they could make a difference in the world. Dickens himself was known for his charitable work. He helped to establish several charities and was always willing to help those in need.
Dickens’s message is still relevant today. Christmas is a time when we should focus on giving and caring for others. If we all did this, we could make a real difference in the world.
“And yet I have had the weakness, and have still the weakness, to wish you to know with what a sudden mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire.”
“There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.”
“I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.”
“The broken heart. You think you will die, but you just keep living, day after day after terrible day.”
“Ask no questions, and you’ll be told no lies.”
“You are in every line I have ever read.”
“I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
“Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”
“There is a wisdom of the head, and… there is a wisdom of the heart.”
“No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.”
In Charles Dickens’ day, books were a precious commodity. They were expensive to produce and took up a lot of space. But even more than that, they were a source of knowledge and power. For the literate, books were a way to escape the confines of their everyday lives and explore new worlds.
But for those who could not read, books were nothing more than objects – pretty to look at, perhaps, but ultimately meaningless. No one who can read ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.
“A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.”
“Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.”
“It is because I think so much of warm and sensitive hearts, that I would spare them from being wounded.”
“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”
“So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.”
“There is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair.”
“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.”
“Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.”
“I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.”
Charles Dickens’s Quotes on Society
During his lifetime, Charles Dickens wrote a number of novels that exposed the grim realities of 19th-century society. He highlighted issues such as poverty, inequality, and social injustice with an incomparable truth in his characters and stories.
While he may be gone now, his words still live on in timeless quotes that continue to challenge our perception today, which is why we’re discussing some powerful Charles Dickens quotes on society. These are deep thoughts from one of the greatest minds ever!
“Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we’d give blood.”
I’m not blood-related to my best friend, but I would do anything for her. She’s been there for me through thick and thin, just as I’ve been there for her. We’ve supported each other through breakups and bad days. We’ve celebrated each other’s triumphs. We are family – even though we don’t share DNA.
It’s important to remember that family isn’t just about who we’re related to biologically. Family is about the people who love us and support us – no matter what.
“A man is lucky if he is the first love of a woman. A woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man.”
“Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”
“No space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused”
“I am what you designed me to be. I am your blade. You cannot now complain if you also feel the hurt”
“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
“A multitude of people and yet a solitude.”
“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.”
“A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.”
“I stole her heart away and put ice in its place.”
“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.”
It’s a lesson that many of us could benefit from learning. We often go through life expecting happiness to just happen to us instead of making it a priority. But when we do that, we often miss out on the joy that comes from simply savouring life’s happy moments.
So what can we do to change our perspective and start enjoying happiness more? For one thing, we can try to be more mindful of the good moments as they happen. Instead of letting them pass by without really noticing them, we can take a few seconds to savour the feeling and appreciate how lucky we are.
“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”
“Death may beget life, but oppression can beget nothing other than itself.”
“I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude.”
“In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.”
“I love your daughter fondly, dearly, disinterestedly, devotedly. If ever there were love in the world, I love her.”
“Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures, hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?”
“It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.”
“Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop,” returned madame; “but don’t tell me.”
“Not knowing how he lost himself, or how he recovered himself, he may never feel certain of not losing himself again.”
“We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
“And I am bored to death with it. Bored to death with this place, bored to death with my life, bored to death with myself.”
It’s easy to understand why Dickens might have felt this way. He was living in a small town and working long hours at a job he didn’t love. Plus, he wasn’t yet the famous author we know today.
But even when we’re feeling bored and stuck in our lives, it’s important to remember that things can always get better. Just like Charles Dickens went on to have a successful career and write some of the greatest novels of all time, we can also turn our boredom into something positive.
“There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose.”
“Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule.”
“Life is made of so many partings welded together”
“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 of you.”
“No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”
“In a utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected.”
“Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; – the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!”
“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 object at a time.”
“Trifles make the sum of life. ”
Charles Dickens was speaking about the little things that make up our lives. These trifles may seem insignificant, but they are actually what make life worth living.
Without these little moments, we would miss out on the joy and happiness that makes life worth living. It is the sum of these trifles that makes life meaningful and worthwhile.
“There were two classes of charitable people: one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all.”
Let’s Wind Up…
Charles Dickens was a prolific writer who is known for his quotes on a variety of topics. His quotes are still relevant today and can be applied to many situations. Dickens was a master of the English language, and his quotes are a testament to that.