Time has been lost and opportunity thrown away, but I am yet a young man, and may retrieve it.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the potential for recovery and the optimism of youth, suggesting that lost time and opportunities can still be reclaimed.
In this quote, Charles Dickens reflects on the idea that while time may have been squandered and opportunities missed, there remains hope and the possibility for a young person to make up for those losses. It conveys a sense of resilience and urges individuals to recognize their capacity for change and improvement, regardless of past mistakes.
In practice
This quote can be used at a graduation speech to inspire students about the future.
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.
Quit now? They'll have to cut the uniform off me. I'm going out for another 300. They couldn't be any harder to get than the first 300.
There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.
I want to use every second of my life, every time that I have in my life, to make me a better fighter. That's why I'm a martial artist. For me, it's more than a job - it's a way of living
Man matures through work which inspires him to difficult good.
Vigor is contagious, and whatever makes us either think or feel strongly adds to our power and enlarges our field of action.
Every great batter works on the theory that the pitcher is more afraid of him than he is of the pitcher.
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