Charles Dickens was a prolific 19th century British author, who continues to be one of the most widely read Victorian novelists.
Dickens penned such acclaimed works as 'Oliver Twist,' 'A Christmas Carol,' 'David Copperfield', 'Great Expectations', and ‘A Tale of Two Cities’-- to name just a few that have gone on to become classics in English literature.
In his early childhood, his family struggled with financial difficulties and when Dickens’ father was imprisoned for debt, the rest of his family moved near the prison, leaving him to live alone.
He took his first job at the age of 12, working in a factory that handled "blacking", and when he turned 15, Charles dropped out of school to work as an office boy. All this sacrifice was made to contribute to the family’s income – to support the same people that abandoned and betrayed him when they were supposed to take care of him.
The string of unfortunate events, loneliness and hardship, colored Dickens' view of the world and would later be described in some of his novels. His hard work and perseverance did eventually pay off as Dickens became a global literary phenomenon.
RELATED: 15 Quotes to Make You Feel Strong Just as You Are
Here are 20 Charles Dickens quotes to help you remain kind-hearted no matter how hard life treats you.
Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.
Family not only needs to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also of those whom we'd give blood.
Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
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.
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but -- I hope -- into a better shape.
We need never be ashamed of our tears.
There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.
Ask no questions, and you’ll be told no lies.
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to I have devoted mysef completely; that in great aims and in small, I have aways been thoroughly in earnest.
A loving heart is the truest wisdom.
The broken heart. You think you will die, but you just keep living day after day after terrible day.
There is a wisdom of the head, and… there is a wisdom of the heart.
Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule.
The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.
There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.
I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.
Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart.
There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.
Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.
