Of Quakers and kites

If he likes to fly a kite sometimes, what of that! Franklin used to fly a kite. He was a Quaker, or something of that sort, if I am not mistaken. And a Quaker flying a kite is a much more ridiculous object than anybody else. Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield

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To some small end

…money would never keep that man out of mischief. He is such an incarnate hypocrite, that whatever object he pursues, he must pursue crookedly. It’s his only compensation for the outward restraints he puts on himself. Always creeping along the ground to some small end or other, he will always magnify every object in the [...]

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Modern breeding specifications

…when society is the name for such hollow gentlemen and ladies, Julia, and when its breeding is professed indifference to everything that can advance or can retard mankind, I think we must have lost ourselves in that same Desert of Sahara, and had better find the way out. David Copperfield

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Ferocious doctrine

“Does he gloomily profess to be (I am ashamed to use the word in such association) religious still?” I inquired. “You anticipate, sir,” said Mr. Chillip, his eyelids getting quite red with the unwonted stimulus in which he was indulging. “One of Mrs. Chillip’s most impressive remarks. Mrs. Chillip,” he proceeded, in the calmest and [...]

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The troubles of the world

What a troublesome world this is, when one has the most right to expect it to be as agreeable as possible!Clara Copperfield (Murdstone)

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