Inspirational Quotes by G.K. Chesterton

“I confine myself to throwing out the observation, that, at the hour and place I have indicated, may be found such ruined vestiges as yet “Remain, ”Of “A ”Fallen Tower, “WILKINS MICAWBER.”

“had been sitting with his face turned towards the fire: giving the palms of his hands a warm and a rub alternately. As the young woman spoke, he”

“I believe the power of observation in numbers of very young children to be quite wonderful for its closeness and accuracy. Indeed,”

“Who can tell how scenes of peace and quietude sink into the minds of pain-worn dwellers in close and noisy places, and carry their own freshness, deep into their jaded hearts! Men who have lived in crowded, pent-up streets, through lives of toil, and who have never wished for change; men, to whom custom has indeed been second nature, and who have come almost to love each brick and stone that formed the narrow boundaries of their daily walks; even they, with the hand of death upon them, have been known to yearn at last for one short glimpse of Nature’s face; and, carried far from the scenes of their old pains and pleasures, have seemed to pass at once into a new state of being. Crawling forth, from day to day, to some green sunny spot, they have had such memories wakened up within them by the sight of sky, and hill and plain, and glistening water, that a foretaste of heaven itself has soothed their quick decline, and they have sunk into their tombs, as peacefully as the sun whose setting they watched from their lonely chamber window but a few hours before, faded from their dim and feeble sight! The memories which peaceful country scenes call up, are not of this world, nor of its thoughts and hopes. Their gentle influence may teach us how to weave fresh garlands for the graves of those we loved: may purify our thoughts, and bear down before it old enmity and hatred; but beneath all this, there lingers, in the least reflective mind, a vague and half-formed consciousness of having held such feelings long before, in some remote and distant time, which calls up solemn thoughts of distant times to come, and bends down pride and worldliness beneath it.”

“[Peggotty] gave me one piece of intelligence which affected me very much, namely, that there had been a sale of the furniture at our old home, and that Mr. and Miss Murdstone were gone away, and the house was shut up, to be let or sold. I had no part in it while they remained there, but it pained me to think of the dear old place as altogether abandoned; of the weeds growing tall in the garden, and the fallen leaves lying thick and wet upon the paths. I imagined how the winds of winter would howl round it, how the cold rain would beat upon the window-glass, how the moon would make ghosts on the walls of the empty rooms, watching their solitude all night. I thought afresh of the grave in the churchyard, underneath the tree: and it seemed as if the house were dead, too [...].”

“In breve, l'astuto e vecchio ebreo era riuscito ad avvolgere il bambino nella propria rete. Dopo aver fatto sì, mediante la solitudine e la tetraggine, che egli preferisse qualsiasi compagnia a quella dei propri lugubri pensieri in una casa tanto tetra, ora gli instillava pian piano nell'anima il veleno che sperava potesse renderla nera per sempre.”

“My employer, ma‘am—Mr. Heep—once did me the favour to observe to me that if I were not in the receipt of the stipendiary emoluments appertaining to my engagement with him, I should probably be a mountebank about the country, swallowing a sword-blade, and eating the devouring element. For anything that I can perceive to the contrary, it is still probable that my children may be reduced to seek a livelihood by personal contortion, while Mrs. Micawber abets their unnatural feats, by playing the barrel-organ.”

“Die auf die Natur und ihre Mitmenschen blicken und wehklagen, daß alles schwarz und finster sei, sie haben recht; allein die düsteren Farben sind Widerspiegelungen ihrer gelbsüchtigen Ugen und Herzen.”

“In questi momenti, un essere mortale si rende vagamente conto dei poteri formidabili che avrebbe la propria mente se, libera dalla prigionia del corpo, potesse lasciarsi indietro i limiti del tempo e dello spazio.”

“    Peggotty and I were sitting one night by the parlour fire, alone. I had been reading to Peggotty about crocodiles. I must have read very perspicuously, or the poor soul must have been deeply interested, for I remember she had a cloudy impression, after I had done, that they were a sort of vegetable. I”

“Dunque, sebbene fosse naturalissimo che i componenti del consiglio di amministrazione, più di ogni altra persona al mondo, si sentissero virtuosamente stupefatti e inorriditi da ogni minimo indizio di insensibilità da parte di chiunque, in questo caso particolare la loro riprovazione era alquanto ingiustificata. La pura e semplice verità si riduceva a questo: Oliver, anziché essere insensibile, era anche troppo sensibile; e, proprio per questo, stava per essere ridotto, vita natural durante, a uno stato di bruta stupidità e indifferenza dai maltrattamenti ai quali lo avevano assoggettato.”

“In a school carried on by sheer cruelty, whether it is presided over by a dunce or not, there is not likely to be much learnt. I believe our boys were, generally, as ignorant a set as any schoolboys in existence; they were too much troubled and knocked about to learn; they could no more do that to advantage, than any one can do anything to advantage in a life of constant misfortune, torment, and worry.”

“THE TIME ARRIVES FOR NANCY TO REDEEM HER PLEDGE TO ROSE MAYLIE. SHE FAILS.”

“I was tired of reading, and dead sleepy; but having leave, as a high treat, to sit up until my mother came home from spending the evening at a neighbour's, I would rather have died upon my post (of course) than have gone to bed. I”

“Treats of the Place Where Oliver Twist Was Born and of the Circumstances”

“I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas.”

“CHAPTER XXIII WHICH CONTAINS THE SUBSTANCE OF A PLEASANT CONVERSATION BETWEEN MR. BUMBLE AND A LADY; AND SHEWS THAT EVEN A BEADLE MAY BE SUSCEPTIBLE ON SOME POINTS”

“Have you got your flute with you?' 'Yes,' he returned. 'Have a blow at it,' said the old woman, coaxingly. 'Do!' The Master, upon this, put his hand underneath the skirts of his coat, and brought out his flute in three pieces, which he screwed together, and began immediately to play. My impression is, after many years of consideration, that there never can have been anybody in the world who played worse.”

“There were some ragged children in another corner; and in a small recess, opposite the door, there lay upon the ground, something covered with an old blanket.”

“Coming before me, on this particular evening that I mention, mingled with the childish recollections and later fancies, the ghosts of half-formed hopes, the broken shadows of disappointments dimly seen and understood, the blending of experience and imagination, incidental to the occupation with which my thoughts had been busy, it was more than commonly suggestive”