A Tale of Two Cities

By Charles Dickens QUOTATION: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
ATTRIBUTION: Charles Dickens (1812–1870), British novelist. A Tale of Two Cities, ch. 1, p. 1, “The Period,” (1859).

The famous opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities, of which only the first phrase is usually cited.

QUOTATION: A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.
ATTRIBUTION: Charles Dickens (1812–1870), British novelist. A Tale of Two Cities, bk. 1, ch. 3 (1859).

QUOTATION: Along the Paris streets, the death-carts rumble, hollow and harsh. Six tumbrils carry the day’s wine to La Guillotine.
ATTRIBUTION: Charles Dickens (1812–1870), British novelist. A Tale of Two Cities, Part 3, ch. 15 (1859).

QUOTATION: It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
ATTRIBUTION: Charles Dickens (1812–1870), British novelist. A Tale of Two Cities, bk. 3, ch. 15 (1859).

Sydney Carton’s thoughts on the scaffold, the closing words of the book.