Charles Dickens

The poor are always with us, but they are not always with us in the same numbers.

The universe makes rather an indifferent parent, I am afraid.

The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on.

I grieve to say that I know of no country where the practice of dentistry is so atrocious as in England.

I have not the least belief in the present system of education for the poor, as it is conducted in England.

I am a most uncompromising enemy of the present system of administering the poor-laws.

The English are, I am afraid, a little too much given to a kind of national conceit.

There are some things in the world that a man cannot know, and ought not to know, if he could.

I have no doubt that the mass of the working people of England are as yet, in their own country, an unknown territory to the educated classes.

I have a strong objection to the present system of transportation, as a punishment.

I believe that the present system of prison discipline is a failure.

The older I grow, the more I dislike the cant of all kinds, and especially religious cant.

I have no faith in the wisdom of any government that is not based upon the popular will.

There is a great deal of humbug in the world, and a good deal of it in England.

I am not a believer in the infallibility of any human institution.

I have a strong impression that the present system of voting is a very bad one.

I don't believe in the perfectibility of the human race.

The English people are, on the whole, a very good-natured people, but they are also a very obstinate people.

I have a great contempt for all cant and humbug.

I am not a great admirer of public dinners, as a general rule.