evidence: This weekend I read an article on the BBC website about Charles Dickens’s cultural longevity and why he is still so much a part of our modern life. I was drawn to this article especially as I recently finished reading the acclaimed biography of Charles Dickens by the outstanding biographer Claire Tomalin. [...] The author of the BBC article John Gray said: "Charles Dickens was a close observer of human nature who found endless interest in the theatre of ordinary life". And these observations are so clearly shown in his novels. I’d like to share with you 16 of my favourite quotes by Charles Dickens. Some of them appear in his books and are uttered by his characters whilst others were said by him.