Wednesday 31 August 2011

Clever Words

Clever words written by one of literature's greats, Charles Dickens, masterfully quoted in the novel "One Day" by David Nicholls, under these age related headings:

Early Twenties

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different it's course would have been. Pause, you who read this, and think for a long moment of the long chain of iron or gold, or thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on that memorable day."

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations


Late Twenties

"We spent as much money as we could and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acqaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one."

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations


It astounds me that these words, from a novel first published in 1861, can still hold meanings and relevance more than a century on. Clever, clever, clever.

No comments:

Post a Comment