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Compound interest Quote by Charles Dickens

“... Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets, as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots…” quote by Charles Dickens
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““... Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets, as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snow-flakes — gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas, in a general infection of ill-temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if the day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.””

Charles Dickens

About This Quote

Source Novel: The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841

London’s grim, muddy streets create a bleak, oppressive atmosphere.

In simple terms: Muddy streets feel oppressive.

Key Takeaway

Notice environmental impact on mood.

Themes

urban decay weather mood

Mood

melancholic descriptive

Type

literary historical

When to use this quote

  • historical walking tours
  • urban planning
  • literary analysis

Key Concepts

industrial revolution social commentary

Questions to Reflect On

  • How does setting affect characters?
  • What can modern cities learn?
A Different Perspective

May romanticize hardship.

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