Tuesday, February 10, 2009





"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. 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. "

" . . . You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since - on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or more impossible to be displaced by your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. But, in this separation I associate you only with the good, and I will faithfully hold you to that always, for you must have done me far more good than harm, let me feel now what sharp distress I may. O God bless you, God forgive you!"

~Charles Dickens Great Expectations

10 comments:

Maia said...

That is such an amazing and powerful speech. It gets me every time. And I love that scene in the rain from the movie (and that dress...which haunts me still).

pink dogwood said...

This is so beautiful - I don't remember anything from that book, must read it again :)

Cecile/DreamCreateRepeat said...

I don't recognize the first picture and didn't see a reference?!

Ah, great sweeping Dickens I recognize! ; )

Love is in the air....

Tess Kincaid said...

Beautiful and powerful.

marc aurel said...

Dickens is too dense for my simple mind, but I like the stories well enough. I thought the picture was of a man telling his wife and mother in law that he was gay.

Yoli said...

Marc you crack me up!

Vivian M said...

Yoli, you are such a romantic!

FishermansDaughter said...

*eye welling up*

Beautiful.

Cynthia Pittmann said...

Dickens was never short on words; really you have to slow down and visualize the images he creates. In our time we try to rush to the point...what happened? Are they permanently separated? I know even when I read; I dash through to get to the what happens next...I read that he wrote by the word/page publishing serial (monthly?) editions. Blogging in the long view...the more he wrote, the more he was paid. (Amazing that it came out so well.)
I entered your weblog on the Feb 5? 7? through a link from tangobaby. You seem to have a love theme going on. All of the scenes from important love stories. Heartwarming. I left a comment on the earlier post also. <3

Hajar Alwi said...

One of the first few literatures of Dickens I read in my adolescent years. Breathtakingly beautiful piece of work. :)