Claire Tomalin Dickens Quotations

Dickens was a part of how the whole celebration of Christmas as we know it today emerged during the 19th century.

I have been fascinated by Dickens worshippers who strenuously deny that he did anything wrong in relation to his wife, even though the record is clear that he did.

Dickens never joined a political party nor put forward a political programme. He was a writer who rightly saw his power as coming through his fiction.

Dickens had more energy than anyone in the world, and he expected his sons to be like him, and they couldn't be.

When you live with Dickens for years, reading him and trying to present him as faithfully as you can, you can't fail to love the man - so the shock of his bad behaviour is considerable, even when you know it is coming.

After Shakespeare, Dickens is the great creator of characters, multiple characters.

As a young man, Dickens worked as a reporter in the House of Commons and hated it. He felt that all politicians spoke with the same voice.