Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is a treasure trove of profound insights about life, love, ambition, and human nature. These carefully curated quotes capture the novel’s emotional depth and timeless wisdom, offering readers a glimpse into its rich tapestry of themes. Whether you’re a fan of classic literature or seeking inspiration, these quotes are sure to resonate and provoke thought.
Great Expectations Quotes
1. “I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”
2. “I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.”
3. “Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.”
4. “Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures, hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?”
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5. “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
6. “No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself.”
7. “Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before–more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”
8. “I looked at the stars, and considered how awful it would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death, and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude.”
9. “We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
10. “So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.”
11. “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.”
12. “There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.”
13. “It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
14. “I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
15. “In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.”
16. “Ask no questions, and you’ll be told no lies.”
17. “Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”
18. “In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.”
19. “Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade.”
20. “We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.”
Related: Great Expectations Summary, Themes, Characters and Book Club Questions
Final thoughts
I hope these powerful quotes from Great Expectations have inspired you to reflect on its timeless themes of growth, love, and redemption. Whether you’re revisiting this classic or exploring it for the first time, these words remind us why Dickens’ work continues to captivate hearts and minds.
