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.
If you’re not afraid, if you take everything you are, everything worthwhile in you and direct it at one goal, one ultimate mark, you’ve got to get there.
It's like the first man to go to the moon, I will be the first man to run under two hours, this is crucial.
The thing, when you're down two sets to love, is to stay calm, even though it's hard, because people are freaking out, people are worried for you.
And then ultimately what I tell the kids is: coaches can give you information, they can give you guidelines, and they can put you in a position. But the only person who can truly make you better is you.
It's not like at university where you graduate. Every cyclist must start again. At the end of the season you know if you are good or not.
For years, I believed that anything worth doing was worth doing early. In graduate school, I submitted my dissertation two years in advance. In college, I wrote my papers weeks early and finished my thesis four months before the due date. My roommates joked that I had a productive form of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.