25 Best Oliver Twist Quotes By Charles Dickens
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‘Oliver Twist’, also known as the ‘Parish Boy's Progress’, is a novel written by one of the best authors of all time, who is famous for his work in the literary community, among book enthusiasts and students.
The novel is one of Dicken's critically acclaimed works and is loved by people all around the globe. The novel portrays criminals, their lives and also exposes the cruelty affecting the life of orphans due to the poor law in London during the Mid 19th Century.
The book portrays Oliver as an orphan since birth, who spent nine years of his life in an Orphanage which housed many children and with tiny quantities of food.
It was on his ninth birthday that Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle man, removes him from the Child Farm putting him to work, weaving and picking, at the workhouse for six months although Oliver was deprived food.
It was his request to the master saying, “Please, sir, I want some more”, that later made him an apprentice.
As he moves towards London, he meets another person named Jack Dawkins, who later offers him free lodging and food, introduces him to meet Fagin, whose boys are pickpockets and thieves. Eventually, Oliver is wrongly accused of stealing a handkerchief which belonged to Mr. Brownlow and is arrested for the crime.
As the book further progresses, it showcases various aspects such as human nature, life, death, remorse, difficulty in life, law, dignity, and suspense with the help of various characters in the book. Dickens’s characters are colorful and we enjoy quotes by them or about them.
We have curated the perfect list of excerpts for you from what the characters are saying and from the book!
If you find our content interesting, you can also check out Charles Dickens quotes or 'Great Expectations' quotes.
Famous ‘Oliver Twist’ Quotes By Charles Dickens
We love classic literature quotes and especially Charles Dickens' book quotes! Here are some of the best quotes from a passage or character from the popular book by Dickens.
1. “Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine.”
- Narrator, Chapter 37.
2. “Please, sir, I want some more.”
- Oliver, Chapter Two.
3. “That boy, Oliver, is an imposter.”
- Mr. Brownlow, Chapter 17.
4. “Every trade has its draw-backs.”
- Mr. Bumble, Chapter Four.
5. “Upon this, the parish authorities magnanimously and humanely resolved, that Oliver should be farmed.”
-Narrator, Chapter Two.
Nancy Quotes And Poverty Quotes That Stay In Your Head
Here are some excerpts from few of the people Oliver meets and some excerpts about his state as a charity boy.
6. “What have paupers to do with soul or spirit? It’s quite enough that we let ‘em have live bodies. If you had kept the boy on gruel, ma’am, this would never have happened.”
- Mr. Bumble, Chapter 7.
7. “That it won’t do; so it’s a no use a-trying it on, Fagin.”
- Nancy, Chapter 13.
8. “And as I don’t want ‘em to, neither.”
- Nancy, Chapter 13.
9. “That a young woman earnestly asks to speak to Miss Maylie alone.”
- Nancy, Chapter 39.
10. “I only know two sorts of boys. Mealy boys, and beef-faced boys.”
- Mr. Grimwig, Chapter 10.
Important ‘Oliver Twist’ Quotes You Will Enjoy
‘Oliver Twist’ is a must read and no one can truly keep the book back once they start reading it. We love Charles Dickens' quotes and especially excerpts from his books. Here are some more of his famous lines.
11. “Some people are nobody's enemies but their own”
- Morris Bolter, Chapter 43.
12. “I confess I have yet to learn that a lesson of the purest good may not be drawn from the vilest evil.”
- Charles Dickens.
13. “Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts, exercise, even over the appearance of external objects.”
- Charles Dickens.
14. “Why everybody lets him alone enough, for the matter of that. Neither his father nor his mother will ever interfere with him. All his relations let him have his own way pretty well.”
- Noah, Chapter Five.
15. “Sudden shifts and changes are no bad preparation for political life.”
- Charles Dickens.
16. “To do a great right, you may do a little wrong; and you may take any means which the end to be attained will justify.”
- Charles Dickens.
Fagin Quotes Which Stay In Our Thoughts
The main characters include Oliver, Mr. Brownlow, Fagin, Nancy, Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry, Jack Dawkins and various other characters. Here are some dialogues by Fagin.
17. “Every man's his own friend, my dear.”
- Fagin., Chapter 43.
18. “When the boy is worth a hundred pounds to me, am I to lose what chance threw me in the way of getting safely, through the whims of a drunken gang that I could whistle away the lives of! And me bound, too, to a born devil, that only wants the will and has the power.”
- Fagin, Chapter 26.
19. “You have a friend in me, Nance; a staunch friend. I have the means at hand, quiet and close. If you want revenge on those that treat you like a dog... come to me. I say, come to me.”
- Fagin, Chapter 44.
20. “Say I’ve gone to sleep—they’ll believe you. You can get me out, if you take me so.”
- Fagin, Chapter 52.
Some More Quotes From ‘Oliver Twist’
Books by Charles Dickens are all highly acclaimed. He was truly a great man, being read and studied years after his death even now, with multiple amazing works under his name. Here are some more excerpts.
21. “Let the tears which fell, and the broken words which were exchanged in the long close embrace between the orphans, be sacred.”
- Narrator, Chapter 51.
22. “Then come with me... your bed's under the counter. You don't mind sleeping among the coffins, I suppose? But it doesn't much matter whether you do or don't, for you can't sleep anywhere else. Come!”
- Mrs. Sowerberry, Chapter Four.
23. “He should be dispatched to a branch-workhouse where twenty or thirty other juvenile offenders against the poor laws, rolled about the floor all day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing.”
- Narrator, Chapter Two.
24. “Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the somber colors are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision.”
- Narrator, Chapter 24.
25. “There was the little church, in the morning, with the green leaves fluttering at the windows: the birds singing without: filling the homely building with its fragrance.”
- Narrator, Chapter 32
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for quotes from Oliver Twist then why not take a look at 'A Christmas Carol' quotes, or ['David Copperfield' quotes].
Main Image Editorial credit: Yuri Turkov / Shutterstock.com
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Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English
Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English
With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature.
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