Quotes From "Our Mutual Friend" By Charles Dickens

We are thankful to come here for rest, sir, " said Jenny. "You see, you don't know what the rest of this place is to us; does he, Lizzie? It's the quiet, and the air."" The quiet! " repeated Fledgeby, with a contemptuous turn of his head towards the City's roar. "And the air! " with a "Poof! " at the smoke." Ah! " said Jenny. "But it's so high. And you see the clouds rushing on above the narrow streets, not minding them, and you see the golden arrows pointing at the mountains in the sky from which the wind comes, and you feel as if you were dead." The little creature looked above her, holding up her slight transparent hand." How do you feel when you are dead?" asked Fledgeby, much perplexed." Oh, so tranquil! " cried the little creature, smiling. "Oh, so peaceful and so thankful! And you hear the people who are alive, crying, and working, and calling to one another down in the close dark streets, and you seem to pity them so! And such a chain has fallen from you, and such a strange good sorrowful happiness comes upon you! " Her eyes fell on the old man, who, with his hands folded, quietly looked on." Why it was only just now, " said the little creature, pointing at him, "that I fancied I saw him come out of his grave! He toiled out at that low door so bent and worn, and then he took his breath and stood upright, and looked all round him at the sky, and the wind blew upon him, and his life down in the dark was over! – Till he was called back to life, " she added, looking round at Fledgeby with that lower look of sharpness. "Why did you call him back?"" He was long enough coming, anyhow, " grumbled Fledgeby."But you are not dead, you know, " said Jenny Wren. "Get down to life! " Mr Fledgeby seemed to think it rather a good suggestion, and with a nod turned round. As Riah followed to attend him down the stairs, the little creature called out to the Jew in a silvery tone, "Don't be long gone. Come back, and be dead! " And still as they went down they heard the little sweet voice, more and more faintly, half calling and half singing, "Come back and be dead, Come back and be dead!. Charles Dickens

Give me a moment, because I like to cry for joy. It's so delicious, John dear, to cry for joy. Charles Dickens

Ah me! " said he, "what might have been is not what is! Charles Dickens

Wish me everything that you can wish for the woman you dearly love, and I have as good as got it, John. I have better than got it, John. Charles Dickens

I really am a little afraid, my dear, ” hinted the cherub meekly, “that you are not enjoying yourself?”“ On the contrary, ” returned Mrs. Wilfer, “quite so. Why should I not?”“ I thought, my dear, that perhaps your face might–““ My face might be a martyrdom, but what would that import, or who should know it, if I smiled?” And she did smile; manifestly freezing the blood of Mr. George Sampson by so doing. For that young gentleman, catching her smiling eye, was so very much appalled by its expression as to cast about in his thoughts concerning what he had done to bring it down upon himself. Charles Dickens

Bradley Headstone, in his decent black coat and waistcoat, and decent white shirt, and decent formal black tie, and decent pantaloons of pepper and salt, with his decent silver watch in his pocket and its decent hair-guard round his neck, looked a thoroughly decent young man of six-and-twenty. He was never seen in any other dress, and yet there was a certain stiffness in his manner of wearing this, as if there were a want of adaptation between him and it, recalling some mechanics in their holiday clothes. He had acquired mechanically a great store of teacher's knowledge. He could do mental arithmetic mechanically, sing at sight mechanically, blow various wind instruments mechanically, even play the great church organ mechanically. From his early childhood up, his mind had been a place of mechanical stowage. The arrangement of his wholesale warehouse, so that it might be always ready to meet the demands of retail dealers history here, geography there, astronomy to the right, political economy to the left–natural history, the physical sciences, figures, music, the lower mathematics, and what not, all in their several places–this care had imparted to his countenance a look of care; while the habit of questioning and being questioned had given him a suspicious manner, or a manner that would be better described as one of lying in wait. There was a kind of settled trouble in the face. It was the face belonging to a naturally slow or inattentive intellect that had toiled hard to get what it had won, and that had to hold it now that it was gotten. He always seemed to be uneasy lest anything should be missing from his mental warehouse, and taking stock to assure himself. Charles Dickens

Are you thankful for not being young?'' Yes, sir. If I was young, it would all have to be gone through again, and the end would be a weary way off, don't you see?... Charles Dickens

And this is the eternal law. For, Evil often stops short at istelf and dies with the doer of it! but Good, never. Charles Dickens