Charles Dickens’ timeless classic, A Christmas Carol, is a treasure trove of memorable quotes that resonate with readers across generations. From the grumpy exclamations of Ebenezer Scrooge to the profound reflections of Tiny Tim, these quotes capture the essence of the novel’s themes of redemption, compassion, and the enduring spirit of Christmas.
In this article, we will delve into the most poignant and insightful quotes from A Christmas Carol, exploring their significance and the powerful messages they convey. Whether you are a longtime fan or new to this literary gem, these quotes are sure to inspire and uplift.
A Christmas Carol Quotes
- “God bless us, every one!” – Tiny Tim
- “Bah! Humbug!” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “No space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused.” – Ghost of Jacob Marley
- “Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” – Narrator
- “It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” – Narrator
- “You are fettered,” said Scrooge, trembling. “Tell me why.” “I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.” – Jacob Marley and Scrooge
- “Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “Spirit, are they yours?” Scrooge could say no more. “They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.” – Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present
- “It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men and travel far and wide, and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.” – Jacob Marley
- “I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.” – Fred
- “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” – Narrator
- “A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” – Narrator
- “It is a ponderous chain!” – Jacob Marley
- “Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.” – Narrator
- “The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” – Narrator
- “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say.” – Fred
- “Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years.” – Narrator
- “You will be haunted,” resumed the Ghost, “by Three Spirits.” – Jacob Marley
- “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father.” – Narrator
- “He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.” – Narrator
- “Spirit! hear me! I am not the man I was.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “There was nothing very cheerful in the climate or the town, and yet was there an air of cheerfulness abroad.” – Narrator
- “Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal.” – Narrator
- “There are some upon this earth of yours, returned the Spirit, who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived.” – Ghost of Christmas Present
- “It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.” – Narrator
- “You are changed. When it was made, you were another man.” – Belle
- “I have seen your nobler aspirations fall off one by one, until the master-passion, Gain, engrosses you.” – Belle
- “You fear the world too much,” she answered, gently. “All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach.” – Belle
- “You will not be thrust in this way by a girl’s caprice – you, who weigh everything by Gain.” – Belle
- “What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!” – Narrator
- “The Spirit raised a frightful cry, and shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise, that Scrooge held on tight to his chair, to save himself from falling in a swoon.” – Narrator
- “And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” – Narrator
- “In short, Scrooge’s nephew laughed in this way: holding his sides, rolling his head, and twisting his face into the most extravagant contortions.” – Narrator
- “I have endeavored in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me.” – Charles Dickens
- “The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait.” – Narrator
- “Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.” – Narrator
- “I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “If I could work my will,” said Scrooge indignantly, “every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.” – Narrator
- “Scrooge had often heard it said that Marley had no bowels, but he had never believed it until now.” – Narrator
- “If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” – Ghost of Christmas Present
- “I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” – Ebenezer Scrooge
- “The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can.” – Ebenezer Scrooge