Selected A Tale of Two Cities Quotes
A Tale of Two Cities- Is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens. It is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution.
The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette: his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story's setting is during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.
It is known as one of the best-known work of historical fiction. It is also one of the best-selling novels of all time. In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel has been adapted for films, television, radio, and the stage. It has also continued to influence popular culture.
Selected A Tale of Two Cities Quotes:
“I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“Detestation of the high is the involuntary homage of the low.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“Perhaps second-hand cares, like second-hand clothes, come easily off and on.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“I have sometimes sat alone here of an evening, listening, until I have made the echoes out to be the echoes of all the footsteps that are coming by and by into our lives.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“I would ask you to believe that he has a heart he very, very seldom reveals, and that there are deep wounds in it. My dear, I have seen it bleeding.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“He knew enough of the world to know that there is nothing in it better than the faithful service of the heart.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“Good never come of such evil, a happier end was not in nature to so unhappy a beginning.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“The cloud of caring for nothing, which overshadowed him with such a fatal darkness, was very rarely pierced by the light within him.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life
“Nothing that we do, is done in vain. I believe, with all my soul, that we shall see triumph.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life, Success
“Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life, Love
“Death may beget life, but oppression can beget nothing other than itself.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Life, Death
“There is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Strength
“You have been the last dream of my soul.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Goals
“When the time comes, let loose a tiger and a devil; but wait for the time with the tiger and the devil chained -not shown- yet always ready.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Goals
“Then tell the Wind and Fire where to stop, but don’t tell me.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Goals
“It was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey, it imparted a particular delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack. It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race. It superseded the Cross. Models of it were worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was denied.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Belief
“So does a whole world, with all its greatnesses and littlenesses, lie in a twinkling star. And as mere human knowledge can split a ray of light and analyse the manner of its composition, so, sublimer intelligences may read in the feeble shining of this earth of ours, every thought and act, every vice and virtue, of every responsible creature on it.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Intelligence/Wisdom
“You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.”
A Tale of Two Cities, Sex
“A multitude of people and yet a solitude.”