“ I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong. ”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861). copy citation
| Author | Charles Dickens |
|---|---|
| Source | Great Expectations |
| Topic | cowardice wrong right |
| Date | 1861 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1400/1400-h/1400-h.htm |
Context
“That, if Joe knew it, and at any subsequent period of our joint domestic life remarked that his beer was flat or thick, the conviction that he suspected tar in it, would bring a rush of blood to my face. In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong. I had had no intercourse with the world at that time, and I imitated none of its many inhabitants who act in this manner. Quite an untaught genius, I made the discovery of the line of action for myself.”
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Meaning and analysis
