Old Marley was dead as a doornail... The wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile.

My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

There is a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast.

Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.

You have been so careful of me that I never had a child's heart. You have trained me so well that I never dreamed a child's dream. You have dealt so wisely with me, Father ,from my cradle to this hour, that I never had a child's belief or a child's fear. Mr. Gradgrind was quite moved by his success, and by this testimony to it. " My dear Louisa," said he, you abundantly repay my care. Kiss me, my dear girl.

Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmastime.

For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.