It was a good thing to have a couple of thousand people all rigid and frozen together, in the palm of one's hand.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the power of influence and control over a collective group.
In this quote, Charles Dickens illustrates the paradox of having control over a large group of people who, despite being physically present, are emotionally or mentally unresponsive. It critiques the notion of authority and how individuals can sometimes feel a sense of power when they perceive they hold sway over the masses, even when that control is not truly genuine or effective.
In practice
In a speech about leadership, one might use this quote to illustrate the dynamics of power over people.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
You carry your snare everywhere and spread your nets in all places. You allege that you never invited others to sin. You did not indeed, by your words, but you have done so by your dress and your deportment.
There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.
Law cannot stand aside from the social changes around it.
Throw away the light, the definitions, and say what you see in the dark.
The ocean of Spirit has become the little bubble of my soul. Whether floating in birth, or disappearing in death, in the ocean of cosmic awareness the bubble of my life cannot die. I am indestructible consciousness, protected in the bosom of Spirit’s immortality.
There is no way you can get people to believe you on screen if they know who you really are through television.
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