Great Expectations Quotes by Charles Dickens: Context & Meanings

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XIX / Volume I Chapter XIX in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. As Pip leaves the village and breaks into tears, the retrospective narrator says that “we need never be ashamed of our tears” before reflecting on ingratitude toward Joe. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Chapter XIX transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. The passage remains literary reflection on Pip’s remorse rather than modern clinical or grief-treatment evidence.

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XVII / Volume I Chapter XVII in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Pip tells Biddy that the simpler life he might have led at the forge was “much to be regretted,” then admits that his ambitions make that lost alternative impossible to restore. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Chapter XVII transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains Pip’s retrospective fictional narration and dialogue, not Dickens autobiography.

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XL / Volume III Chapter I in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Mr. Jaggers tells Pip “Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There’s no better rule” while insisting that he has stayed to the strict line of fact about Pip’s benefactor. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Volume III Chapter I transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains fictional legal dialogue and character method rather than a modern legal or scientific standard.

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter LIX / Volume III Chapter XX in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Estella tells Pip that suffering has taught her to understand what his heart used to be and hopes that being “bent and broken” has left her in a better shape. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Volume III Chapter XX transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains a fictional character’s moral self-assessment, not empirical evidence that suffering reliably improves people.