great expectations by charles dickens : sentence starters
this is a list of 100 quotes from the 1860-1861 novel great expectations by charles dickens to be used as roleplay starters. feel free to change pronouns and the like!
β ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies. β
β i think the romans must have aggravated one another very much with their noses. perhaps, they became the restless people they were, in consequence. β
β he tried to murder me. i should have been a dead man if you had not come up. β
β i sometimes have sick fancies. β
β i am yellow skin and bone. β
β come here! you may kiss me, if you like. β
β what could i become with these surroundings? β
β it is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home. β
β i was your first teacher, though; wasn't i? β
β you know best, _____; but don't you think you are happier as you are? β
β i am not at all happy as i am. i am disgusted with my calling and my life. β
β i have unusual business to transact with you. β
β i want to know no more than i know. β
β of course you'll go wrong somehow, but that's no fault of mine. β
β i was new here once. β
β you may get cheated, robbed, and murdered, in london. but there are plenty of people anywhere, who'll do that for you. β
β well! it's all over now, i hope, and it will be magnanimous in you if you'll forgive me for having knocked you about so. β
β i want to see the man who'll rob me. β
β the office is one thing, and private life is another. β
β you know what i am, don't you? β
β i'm wrong in these clothes. β
β i knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that i loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. β
β so you kiss my hand as if i were a queen, eh? β
β what was fit company for you once, would be quite unfit company for you now. β
β you must know that i have no heart. β
β i have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, i have no doubt, and, of course, if it ceased to beat i should cease to be. but you know what i mean. i have no softness there, no---sympathy---sentiment---nonsense. β
β i'll tell you what real love is. it is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter---as i did! β
β this may lead to miserable things. β
β how did you think he looked? --- i dressed him. β
β i believe it was settled you should meet me? β
β i should hardly have thought this was your beat. β
β did your client commit the robbery? β
β we have no choice, you and i, but to obey our instructions. we are not free to follow our own devices, you and i. β
β you speak of yourself as if you are someone else. β
β you silly boy, how can you talk such nonsense? β
β my dear _____, we are getting on badly. β
β i always thought this was business, this was the way to confront the thing, this was the way to take the foe by the throat. β
β what a fellow of resource you are! really your business powers are very remarkable. β
β i think you might have written to me about these sad matters. β
β i am not angry, but i am hurt. β
β i don't ask you what you owe, because you don't know; and if you did know, you wouldn't tell me; you would say less. β
β choose your bridge, _____, and take a walk upon your bridge, and pitch your money into the thames over the centre arch of the bridge, and you know the end of it. serve a friend with it, and you may know the end of it too but it's a less pleasant and profitable end. β
β you stock and stone! you cold, cold heart! β
β what? do you reproach me for being cold? you? β
β you should know i am what you have made me. β
β why should i call you mad, i of all people? β
β who taught me to be proud? who praised me when i learnt my lesson? β
β who taught me to be hard? who praised me when i learnt my lesson? β
β i have never shown any weakness that i can charge myself with. β
β 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. β
β moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures, hover about a lighted candle. can the candle help it? β
β do you want me then, to deceive and entrap you? β
β i am glad to believe you have repented and recovered yourself. β
β i was sent for life. it's death to come back. β
β what precautions can be taken against your being recognised and seized? β
β don't tell me anything. i don't want to know anything; i am not curious. β
β take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. there's no better rule. β
β i have been bred to no calling, and i am fit for nothing. β
β to judge from appearances, you're out of luck. β
β luck changes. perhaps yours is going to change. β
β i am as unhappy as you can ever have meant me to be. β
β who am i, who am i, for god's sake, that i should be kind! β
β you made your own snares. i never made them. β
β _____, you know i love you. you know that i have loved you long and dearly. β
β it seems that there are sentiments, fancies---i don't know how to call them---which i am not able to comprehend. when you say you love me, i know what you mean, as a form of words; but nothing more. you address nothing in my breast, you touch nothing there. β
β it is in my nature. it is in the nature formed within me. β
β say no more. we shall never understand each other. β
β you will get me out of your thoughts in a week. β
β you are part of my existence, part of myself. β
β under existing circumstances, there is no place like a great city when you are once in it. don't break cover too soon. lie close. β
β i know that what is said between you and me goes no further. β
β i don't like to leave you here, though i cannot doubt your being safer here than near me. β
β as we are going in the same direction, _____, we may walk together. β
β but perhaps you can never believe, now, that there is anything human in my heart? β
β there have been sore mistakes; and my life has been a blind and thankless one; and i want forgiveness and direction far too much, to be bitter with you. β
β what have i done! what have i done! β
β believe this: when she first came to me, i meant to save her from misery like my own. at first i meant no more. β
β if you knew all my story, you would have some compassion for me and a better understanding of me. β
β you don't think your breathing is affected, my dear boy? you seem to breathe quickly. β
β mind! i admit nothing. β
β i know what you did, and how you did it. β
β for whose sake would you reveal the secret? β
β how dare you? you're not in a fit state to come here, if you can't come here without spluttering like a bad pen. β
β i'll let you go. i'll let you go to the moon, i'll let you go to the stars. all in good time. β
β ah! the burnt child dreads the fire! β
β i think i know the delights of freedom. β
β if all goes well, you will be perfectly free and safe again, within a few hours. β
β i will never stir from your side when i am suffered to be near you. please god, i will be as true to you, as you have been to me! β
β i am very much afraid i must go, _____, when you most need me. β
β i shall always need you, because i shall always love you. β
β in short, my dear boy, will you come to me? β
β look angry at me, _____. strike me, _____. tell me of my ingratitude. don't be so good to me! β
β in heaven's name, what does it matter to you where i am going? β
β tell me, as an old, old friend. have you quite forgotten her? β
β i am greatly changed. i wonder you know me. β
β you have always held your place in my heart. β
β to me, parting is a painful thing. β
β i have been bent and broken, but---i hope---into a better shape. β