Little Dorrit Quotes

You have anticipated, mother, that I [Arthur] decide for my part, to abandon the business. I have done with it. [...] I have lived the half of a long term of life, and have never before set my own...

"I [Arthur Clennam] am the son, Mr. Meagles, of a hard father and mother. I am the only child of parents who weighed, measured, and priced everything; for whom what could not be weighed, measured,...

Fifty thousand lairs surrounded him where people lived so unwholesomely that air water put into their crowded rooms on Saturday night, would be corrupt on Sunday morning; albeit my lord, their coun...

The shabby old debtor with the soft manner and the white hair, was the Father of the Marshalsea.And he grew to be proud of the title. If any impostor had arisen to claim it, he would have shed tear...

There was a string of people already straggling in, whom it was not difficult to identify as the nondescript messengers, go-betweens, and errand-bearers of the place. [...] The shabbiness of these...

The affairs of this debtor [Mr. Dorrit] were perplexed by a partnership, of which he knew no more than that he had invested money in it; by legal matters of assignment and settlement, conveyance he...

'How could you help yourself from being married! [...] Was it my mother's project, then?''The Lord bless you, Arthur, and forgive me the wish!' cried Affery, speaking always in a low tone. 'If they...

'I [Clennam] want to ask you, mother, whether it ever occurred to you to suspect—[...]--that he had any secret remembrance which caused him trouble of mind--remorse? Whether you ever observed any...

'Cavalletto,' said Monsieur Rigaud, suddenly withdrawing his gaze from this funnel to which they had both involuntarily turned their eyes, 'you know me for a gentleman? [...] Have I ever done anyth...

'Look at the birds, my pretty!' [said the Marseilles jailer.]'Poor birds!' said the child [his daughter].The fair little face, touched with divine compassion, as it peeped shrinkingly through the g...