Charles Dickens

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

There is nothing so strong or safe as the simple truth.

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.

The child must be taught to look upon himself as a necessary evil.

Home is where the heart is, but the heart is a restless beast.

Literature is the confession of the soul.

On the rampage, Pip, and off the rampage, Pip; such is Life!

I find that the best way to get a thing done is to set about it.

As to marriage on the basis of money, it is a sort of exchange, like the buying and selling of slaves.

On this day in 1870, I die content, having done my work.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...

God bless us, every one!

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else.

Every man has a right to be conceited till he is successful.

It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage.

The law is a ass – a idiot.

And a beautiful country it is, and a beautiful city, and a beautiful people, and a beautiful life, and a beautiful world.

It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled.

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to a fellow-creature the liberty it concedes to the insect.