Charles Dickens

Victorian novelist

Modern influential 143 sayings

Sayings by Charles Dickens

I have always been of the opinion that the best way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

Unknown — Attributed, often cited humorously
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is a principle of the human mind, that the more we have, the more we want, and the less we have, the less we want.

1865 — Our Mutual Friend
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I am a man who has a good deal of respect for the law, but I have a good deal more respect for justice.

1838 — Oliver Twist
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I have always been of the opinion that the best thing a man can do is to keep his own counsel.

1850 — David Copperfield
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It is a very remarkable thing, that the very people who are most anxious to get into society are the very people who are least fitted for it.

1839 — Nicholas Nickleby
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I am a man who has always been very sensitive to the opinions of others, and I have always been very anxious to stand well with them.

1861 — Great Expectations
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There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.

1843 — A Christmas Carol
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It is a most extraordinary thing that I have never been able to get a moment's peace in my life, without having to pay for it.

1850 — Letter to John Forster
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I am a believer in Marley’s Ghost.

1843 — Letter to John Forster discussing his belief in the supernatural.
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Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.

1858 — Speech on technological progress.
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The sun himself has never looked upon anything so ridiculous as this.

1851 — Describing a flamboyant costume in a letter.
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I am always deeply interested in the subject of public executions, and think that the great number of persons whom they attract, derive a salutary horror and warning from the spectacle.

1846 — Letter to the editor of The Daily News, February 28, 1846
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I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.

1859 — From 'Hunted Down' short story
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I am convinced that nothing has effectually suffered in the world but for want of money.

1843 — Letter to Angela Burdett-Coutts, September 1843
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The American women are certainly not pretty... They are not graceful, they are not elegant, they are not accomplished, they are not intellectual, they are not virtuous, and they are not honest.

1842 — From 'American Notes' after his 1842 tour
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The Radicals are a set of men who would pull down everything, and build up nothing.

1869 — Speech at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, September 27, 1869
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I have known a good many people who have had their heads cut off, and I never knew one who didn't deserve it.

1842 — Letter to John Forster, 1842
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The English are, so far as I know, the hardest worked people on whom the sun shines. Be content if in their wretched intervals of leisure they read for amusement and do no worse.

1853 — Preface to 'Bleak House'
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I am always hearing of the good old times. I wish to Heaven the good old times had never come back again.

1869 — Speech at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, September 27, 1869
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I have known a vast amount of nonsense talked about the dignity of labour. The dignity of labour is a comfortable thing to contemplate, but it is not a comfortable thing to experience.

1869 — Speech at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, September 27, 1869
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