Dickens is one of those authors who are well worth stealing.

The most stirring battle-poem in English is about a brigade of cavalry which charged in the wrong direction.

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Truth becomes untruth if uttered by your enemy

Comrades," he said, "here is a point that must be settled. The wild creatures, such as rats and rabbits–are they our friends or our enemies? Let us put it to the vote. I propose this question to the meeting: Are rats comrades?" The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.

Perhaps a man really dies when his brain stops, when he loses the power to take in a new idea.

Never, for any reason on earth, could you wish for an increase in pain. Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop.