Book Report: 08/25/2002

Oliver Twist Memorable Quotes

"The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration, -- a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence." -page 1
"But, none of these taunts producing the desired effect of making Oliver cry, Noah attempted to be more facetious still; and in this attempt, did what many small wits, with far greater reputations than Noah, sometimes do to this day, when they want to be funny. He got rather personal." -page 51
"'Oh, you know, Mr. Bumble, he [Oliver] must be mad,' said Mrs. Sowerberry. 'No boy in half his senses could venture to speak so to you.'
'It's not Madness, ma'am,' replied Mr. Bumble, after a few moments of deep meditation. 'It's Meat.'
'What?' exclaimed Mrs. Sowerberry.
'Meat, ma'am, meat,' replied Bumble, with stern emphasis. 'You've over-fed him, ma'am. You've raised a artificial soul and spirit in him, ma'am, unbecoming a person of his condition: as the board, Mrs. Sowerberry, who are practical philosophers, will tell you. What have paupers to do with soul or spirit? It's quite enough that we let 'em have live bodies. If you had kept the boy on gruel, ma'am, this would never have happened.'
'Dear, dear!' ejaculated Mrs. Sowerberry, piously raising her eyes to the kitchen ceiling: 'this comes of being liberal!'
The liberality of Mrs. Sowerberry to Oliver, had consisted in a profuse bestowal upon him of all the dirty odds and ends which nobody else would eat; so there was a great deal of meekness and self-devotion in her voluntarily remaining under Mr. Bumble's heavy accusation. Of which, to do her justice, she was wholly innocent, in thought, word, or deed." -page 58
"There is a drowsy state, between sleeping and waking, when you dream more in five minutes with your eyes half open, and yourself half conscious of everything that is passing around you, than you would in five nights with your eyes fast closed, and your senses wrapt in perfect unconsciousness. At such times, a mortal knows just enough of what his mind is doing, to form some glimmering conception of its might powers, its bounding from earth and spurning time and space, when freed from the restraint of its corporeal associate." -page 72
"If he [Mr. Fang, a police magistrate] were really not in the habit of drinking rather more than was exactly good for him, he might have brought an action against his countenance for libel, and have recovered heavy damages." -page 88
"Thus, to do a great right, you may do a little wrong; and you may take any means which the end to be attained will justify; the amount of the right, or the amount of the wrong, or indeed the distinction between the two, being left entirely to the philosopher concerrned, to be settled and determined by his clear, comprehensive, and impartial view of this own particular case." -page 103, written as a sarcastic commentary on the behavior of Jack Dawkins and Charley Bates.
"The persons on whom I [Mr. Brownlow] have bestowed my dearest love, lie deep in their graves; but, although the happiness and delight of my life lie buried there too, I have not made a coffin of my heart, and sealed it up, for ever, on my best affection. Deep affliction has but strengthened and refined them." -page 119
"There must always be two parties to a quarrel, says the old adage. Mr. Sikes, being desappointed of the dog's participation, at once transferred his hsare in the quarrel to the new-comer [Fagin]." -page 129
"There is something about a roused woman: especially if she add to all her other strong passions, the fierce impulses and recklessness and despair: which few men like to provoke." -page 143
"'He's [Bull's Eye, Bill Sikes' dog] an out-and-out Christian,' said Charley [Bates].
This was merely intended as a tribute to the animal's abilities, but it was an appropriate remark in another sense, if Master Bates had only known; for there are a good many ladies and gentlemen, claiming to be out-and-out Christians, between whom, and Mr. Sikes's dog, there exist strong and singular points of resemblance." -page 162
"In short, the wily old Jew [Fagin] had the boy [Oliver] in his toils. Having prepared his mind, by solitude and gloom, to prefer any society to the companionship of his own sad thoughts in such a dreary place, he was now slowly intilling into his soul the poison which he hoped would blacken it, and change its hue for ever." -page 167
"'That's it!" observed Mr. Sikes, approvingly; 'women can always put things in fewest words. --Except when it's blowing up' and then they lenghtens it out.'" -page 186
"The younger lady was in the lovely bloom and springtime of womanhood; at that age, when, if ever angels be for God's good purposes entrhoned in mortal forms, they may be, without impiety, supposed to abide in such as hers." -speaking of Rose Maylie, page 260.
"Thus, a strain of gentle music, or the rippling of water in a silent place, or the ordour of a flower, or the mention of a familiar word, will sometimes call up sudden dim remembrances of scenes that never were, in this life; which vanish like a breath; which some brief memory of a happier existence, long gone by, would seem to have awakened; which no voluntary exertion of the mind can ever recall." -page 264
"Oh! if when we oppress and grind our fellow-creatures, we bestowed but one thought on the dark evidences of human error, which, like dense and heavy coulds, were rising, slowly it is true, but not less surely, to Heaven, to pour their after-vengeance on our heads; if we heard but one instant in imagination, the deep testimony of dead men's voices, which no power can stifle, and no pride shut out; where would the the inujry and injustice, the suffereing, misery, curelty, and wrong, that each day's life brings with it!" -page 268
"We need to be careful how we deal wth those about us, when every death carries to some small circle of survivors, thoughts of so much omitted, and so little done - of so many things forgotten, and so many more which might have been repaired! There is no remorse so deep as that which is unavailing; if we would be spared its tortures, let us remember this, in time." -page 303
"But, tears were not the things to find their way to Mr. Bumble's soul; his heart was waterproof. Like washable beaver hats that improve with rain, his nerves were rendered stouter and more vigorous, by showeres of tears, which, being tokens of weakness, and so far tacit admissions of his own power, pleased and exalted him." -page 331
"He [Mr. Bumble] had a decided propensity for bullying; derived no inconsiderable pleasure from the exercise of petty cruelty; and, consequently, was (it is needless to say) a coward. This is by no means a disparagement to his character; for many official personages, who are held in hight respect and admiration, are the victims of similar infirmities. The remark is made, indeed, rather in his favour than otherwise, and with a view of impressing the reader with a just sense of his qualifications for office." -page 333
"Mr Sikes [lacked] the niceties of discrimination, and [was] troubled with no more subtle misgivings than those which resolve themselves into a dogged roughness of behaviour towards everybody." -page 364
"'When ladies as young, and good, and beautiful as you are,' replied the girl [Nancy] steadily, 'give away your hearts, love will carry you all lengths - even such as you, who have home, friends, other admirers, everything, to fill them. When such as I, who have no certain roof but the coffin-lid, and no friend in sickness or death but the hospital nurse, set our rotten hearts on any man, and let him fill the place that has been a blank through all our wretched lives, who can hope to cure us? Pity us, lady - pity us for having only one feeling of the woman left, and for having that turned, by heavy judgment, from a comfort and a pride, into a new means of violence and suffering.'" -spoken to Rose Maylie, page 376.
"'Do not heed my friend, Miss Maylie,' said Mr. Brownlow; 'he [Mr. Grimwig] does not mean what he says.'
'Yes, he does,' growled Mr. Grimwig.
'No, he does not,' said Mr. Brownlow, obviously rising in wrath as he spoke.
'He'll eat his head, if he doesn't,' growled Mr. Grimwig.
'He would deserve to have it knocked off, if he does,' said Mr. Brownlow.
'And he'd uncommonly like to see any man offer to do it,' responded Mr. Grimwig, knocking his stick upon the floor.
Having gone thus far, the two old gentlemen severally took snuff, and afterwards shook hands, according to their invariable custom." -page 382
"'Then what the devil is to be done?' said the impetuous doctor [Mr. Losberne], when they had rejoined the two ladies. 'Are we to pass a vote of thanks to all these vagabonds, male and female, and beg them to accept a hundred pounds, or so apiece, as a trifiling mark of our esteem, and some slight acknowledgement of their kindness to Oliver?'" -please don't miss the saracasm, page 385.
"I [Mr. Brownlow] make this request with good reason, for I might otherwise excite hopes destined never teo be realised, and only increase difficulties and disappointments already quite numerous enough." -page 388
"The heavy bell of St. Paul's tolled for the death of another day. Midnight had come upon the crowded city. The palace, the night-cellar, the jail, the madhouse: the chambers of birth and death, of health and sickness, the rigid face of the corpse and the calm sleep of the child: midnight was upon them all." -page 427
"The sun - the bright sun, that brings back, not light alone, but new life, and hope, and freshness to man - burst upon the crowded city in clear and radiant glory. Through costly-coloured glass and paper-mended window, through cathedral dome and rotten crevice, it shed its equal ray." -page 445
"It is a world of disappointment; often to the hopes we most cherish, and hopes that do our nature the greatest honour." -page 496
"How the two orphans, tried by adversity, remembered its lessons in mercy to others, and mutual love, and fervent thanks to Him who had protected and preserved them - these are all matters which need not to be told. I [the narrator] have said that they were truly happy; and without strong affection and humanity of heart, and gratitude to that Being whose code is Mercy, and whose great attribute is Benevolence to all things that breathe, happiness can never be attained." -page 511

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