"It is curious to imagine these people of the world, busy in thought, turning their eyes towards the countless spheres that shine above us, and making them reflect the only images their minds contain. The man who lives but in the breath of princes, has nothing his sight but stars for courtiers' breasts. The envious man beholds his neighbours' honours even in the sky; to the money-hoarder, and the mass of worldly folk, the whole great universe above glitters with sterling coin—fresh from the mint—stamped with the sovereign's head—coming always between them and heaven, turn where they may. So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 29.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barnaby_Rudge
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Barnaby Rudge
Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty was published in November, 1841, and was Charles Dickens' first attempt at a historical novel, set during the Gordon Riots of 1780. It was one of two Dickens novels published in his short-lived weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock. Barnaby Rudge was originally planned to be his first published novel, but changes by the publisher led to extended delays, which caused it to be his fifth published novel.
111 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Barnaby Rudge →
Related Quotes
"In the chimneys of the disused rooms, swallows had built their nests for many a long year, and from earliest spring t…"
"It was John Willet's ordinary boast in his more placid moods that if he was slow he was sure; which assertion could i…"
"Finding that his look was not returned, or indeed observed by the person to whom it was addressed, John gradually con…"
"What have I done?" reasoned poor Joe. "Silence sir!" returned his father, "what do you mean by talking, when you see …"
"And you'd find your father rather a tough customer in argeyment, Joe, if anybody was to try and tackle him."
"For the matter o' that, Phil, argeyment is a gift of Natur. If Natur has gifted a man with powers of argeyment, a man…"
"Miss Haredale is Mr. Geoffrey Haredale's niece." "Is her father alive?" said the man carelessly. "No," rejoined the l…"
"That," returned the landlord, a little brought down from his dignity by the stranger's surliness, "is a Maypole story…"
"The man glanced at the parish-clerk, whose air of consciousness and importance plainly betokened him to be the person…"
"Whether these, and many other stories of the like nature, were true or untrue, the Maypole was really an old house, a…"