“ Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business! ”
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843). copy citation
| Author | Charles Dickens |
|---|---|
| Source | A Christmas Carol |
| Topic | business charity welfare |
| Date | 1843 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm |
Context
“Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!»
«But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,» faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
«Business!» cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. «Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!»
It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.
«At this time of the rolling year,» the spectre said, «I suffer most.” source
«But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,» faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
«Business!» cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. «Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!»
It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.
«At this time of the rolling year,» the spectre said, «I suffer most.” source
Meaning and analysis
