A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens has sold more than 200 million copies since it was first published in 1859, making it one of the best-selling novels ever written. Set during the French Revolution, the story weaves together love, sacrifice, and political upheaval in a way that still hits hard more than 160 years later. Dickens wrote it in weekly installments, and you can feel that urgency in his sentences.
Below is a collection of the most memorable A Tale of Two Cities quotes, each paired with its page number so you can find them easily in the text.
Please note, this version of the book is freely available for download from Project Gutenberg: A Tale of Two Cities – Gutenberg.
A Tale of Two Cities Quotes
1. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” (p. 4)
2. “I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.” (p. 74)
3. “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!” (p. 11)
4. “I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul. In my degradation I have not been so degraded but that the sight of you with your father, and
of this home made such a home by you, has stirred old shadows that I thought had died out of me.” (p. 132)
5. “No, Miss Manette; all through it, I have known myself to be quite undeserving. And yet I have had the weakness, and have still the weakness, to wish you to know with what a sudden mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire—a fire, however, inseparable in its nature from myself, quickening nothing, lighting nothing, doing no service, idly burning away.” (p. 132)
6. “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.” (p. 330)
Check out our Quotes from Books section for more!
7. “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.” (p. 329)
8. “ ‘There is prodigious strength,’ I answered him, ‘in sorrow and despair.’” (p. 287)
9. “Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away.” (p. 79)
10. “Dear Doctor Manette, I love your daughter fondly, dearly, disinterestedly, devotedly. If ever there were love in the world, I love her. You have loved yourself; let your old love speak for me!”
11. “O Miss Manette, when the little picture of a happy father’s face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!” (p. 134)
12. “A multitude of people, and yet a solitude!” said Darnay, when they had listened for a while.” (p. 89)
13. “Nothing that we do, is done in vain. I believe, with all my soul, that we shall see the triumph. But even if not, even if I knew certainly not, show me the neck of an aristocrat and tyrant, and still I would—”
14. “He knew enough of the world to know that there is nothing in it better than the faithful service of the heart” (p. 83)
15. “Of little worth as life is when we misuse it, it is worth that effort. It would cost nothing to lay down if it were not.” (p. 295)
Related: A Tale of Two Cities Summary and Characters
Final thoughts
Dickens packed A Tale of Two Cities with lines that stick with you long after the last page. If you have not read the novel yet, you can download a free copy from Project Gutenberg and experience it for yourself. For a book written over 160 years ago, it still reads like it was meant for right now.
