London, UK…Charles John Huffam Dickens, 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870. He created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”

“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.”

“Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.”

“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

“It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens down the temper; so cry away.”

“Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you’ve conquered human nature.”

“Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!”

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.”