35 Oliver Twist Quotes About Poverty, Crime & Love

Oliver Twist Quotes

Here are the best Oliver Twist quotes from the book from characters including Oliver, Fagin, Nancy, Rose and Mr. Bumble quotes:

1. ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’ — Oliver (Chapter 2)
2. “Every trade has its draw-backs.” — Mr. Bumble (Chapter 4)
3. “Every man’s his own friend, my dear.” — Fagin (Chapter 43)
4. “Some people are nobody’s enemies but their own” — Morris Bolter (Chapter 43)
5. “Dignity, and even holiness too, sometimes, are more questions of coat and waistcoat than some people imagine.” — Narrator (Chapter 37)
6. ”I hope you say your prayers every night,” said another gentleman in a gruff voice; “and pray for the people who feed you, and take care of you…” — Mr. Bumble (Chapter 2)
7. “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)
8. “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)
9. “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)
10. “There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” — Mr. Brownlow (Chapter 14)
11. “It is because I think so much of warm and sensitive hearts, that I would spare them from being wounded.” — Mrs. Maylie (Chapter 34)
12. The simple fact was, that Oliver, instead of possessing too little feeling, possessed rather too much; and was in a fair way of being reduced, for life, to a state of brutal stupidity and sullenness by the ill-usage he had received. — Narrator (Chapter 4)
13. “My heart is set, as firmly as ever heart of man was set on woman. I have no thought, no view, no hope, in life beyond her; and if you oppose me in this great stake, you take my peace and happiness in your hands, and cast them to the wind.” — Harry Maylie (Chapter 34)
14. “The sun,–the bright sun, that brings back, not light alone, but new life, and hope, and freshness to man–burst upon the crowded city in clear and radiant glory. Through costly-coloured glass and paper-mended window, through cathedral dome and rotten crevice, it shed its equal ray.” — Narrator (Chapter 48)
15. Oh! the suspense, the fearful, acute suspense, of standing idly by while the life of one we dearly love, is trembling in the balance! — Narrator (Chapter 33)
16. the DESPERATE ANXIETY TO BE DOING SOMETHING to relieve the pain, or lessen the danger, which we have no power to alleviate; — Narrator (Chapter 33)
17. “I know that she deserves the best and purest love the heart of man can offer,” said Mrs. Maylie; “I know that the devotion and affection of her nature require no ordinary return, but one that shall be deep and lasting.” — Mrs. Maylie (Chapter 34)
18. “Women can always put things in fewest words. Except when it’s blowing up; and then they lengthens it out.” — Mr Sikes (Chapter 20)
19. There is a kind of sleep that steals upon us sometimes, which, while it holds the body prisoner, does not free the mind from a sense of things about it, and enable it to ramble at its pleasure. — Narrator (Chapter 34)
20. we know, Heaven help us! that the best and fairest of our kind, too often fade in blooming. — Harry Maylie (Chapter 35)
21. “But, tears were not the things to find their way to Mr. Bumble’s soul; his heart was waterproof.” — Narrator (Chapter 37)
22. “It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens down the temper, said Mr. Bumble. So cry away.” — Mr. Bumble (Chapter 37)
23. “He was a dear, grateful, gentle child, sir,” retorted Mrs. Bedwin, indignantly. “I know what children are, sir; and have done these forty years; and people who can’t say the same, shouldn’t say anything about them.” — Mrs. Bedwin (Chapter 17)
24. “But even if he has been wicked,” pursued Rose, “think how young he is; think that he may never have known a mother’s love, or the comfort of a home; that ill-usage and blows, or the want of bread, may have driven him to herd with men who have forced him to guilt.” — Rose (Chapter 30)
25. It was a happy time. The days were peaceful and serene; the nights brought with them neither fear nor care; no languishing in a wretched prison, or associating with wretched men; nothing but pleasant and happy thoughts. — Narrator (Chapter 32)
26. “if I had only had the courage to say the word, I might have been free of you in a night. Curses on your head, and black death on your heart, you imp! What are you doing here?” — Gentleman (Chapter 33)
27. “there is a stain upon my name, which the world visits on innocent heads. I will carry it into no blood but my own; and the reproach shall rest alone on me.” — Rose (Chapter 35)
28. ‘Good training is always desirable, whether the race be for place, cup, or sweepstakess.’ — Doctor (Chapter 36)
29. “Although the happiness and delight of my life lie buried there too, I have not made a coffin of my heart, and sealed it up for ever on my best affections. Deep affliction has only made them stronger; it ought, I think, for it should refine our nature. — Mr. Brownlow (Chapter 14)
30. Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire, and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless starving wretch to lay him down and die. — Narrator (Chapter 23)
31. Many hunger-worn outcasts close their eyes in our bare streets, at such times, who, let their crimes have been what they may, can hardly open them in a more bitter world. — Narrator (Chapter 23)
32. Speak the truth, and you shall not be friendless while I live. — Mr. Brownlow (Chapter 14)
33. I never lock up my money, for I’ve got none to lock up, my dear—ha! ha! ha!—none to lock up. — Fagin (Chapter 39)
34. “Thank Heaven upon your knees, dear lady,” cried the girl, “that you had friends to care for and keep you in your childhood, and that you were never in the midst of cold and hunger, and riot and drunkenness, and—and—something worse than all—as I have been from my cradle. — Nancy (Chapter 40)
35. I must go back. Whether it is God’s wrath for the wrong I have done, I do not know; but I am drawn back to him through every suffering and ill usage; and I should be, I believe, if I knew that I was to die by his hand at last. — Nancy (Chapter 40)
36. “You can do nothing to help me. I am past all hope, indeed. — Nancy (Chapter 46)
37. “You’ve been brought up bad,” said the Dodger, surveying his boots with much satisfaction when Oliver had polished them. “Fagin will make something of you, though, or you’ll be the first he ever had that turned out unprofitable. — Dodger (Chapter 18)