The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

‘Oliver Twist’ (1838) ch. 14 (Mr Grimwig)
Oh, Mrs Corney, what a prospect this opens! What a opportunity for a jining of hearts and
house-keepings!
‘Oliver Twist’ (1838) ch. 27 (Bumble)
This ain’t the shop for justice.
‘Oliver Twist’ (1838) ch. 43 (The Artful Dodger)
‘If the law supposes that,’ said Mr Bumble ... ‘the law is a ass—a idiot.’
‘Oliver Twist’ (1838) ch. 51 (Bumble).
Strike them all dead! What right have they to butcher me?
‘Oliver Twist’ (1838) ch. 52 (Fagin)
4.52.15 Our Mutual Friend
A literary man—with a wooden leg.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk.1, ch. 5 (Mr Boffin, on Silas Wegg)
Professionally he declines and falls, and as a friend he drops into poetry.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk.1, ch. 5 (Mr Boffin, on Silas Wegg)
Meaty jelly, too, especially when a little salt, which is the case when there’s ham, is mellering
to the organ.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk.1, ch. 5 (Silas Wegg)
There is in the Englishman a combination of qualities, a modesty, an independence, a
responsibility, a repose, combined with an absence of everything calculated to call a blush into
the cheek of a young person, which one would seek in vain among the Nations of the Earth.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk.1, ch. 11 (Mr Podsnap)
A slap-up gal in a bang-up chariot.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk. 2, ch. 8
He’d be sharper than a serpent’s tooth, if he wasn’t as dull as ditch water.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk. 3, ch. 10 (Fanny Cleaver)
I want to be something so much worthier than the doll in the doll’s house.
‘Our Mutual Friend’ (1865) bk. 4, ch. 5 (Bella)
4.52.16 Pickwick Papers
Heads, heads, take care of your heads....Five children—mother—tall lady, eating sandwiches—
forgot the arch—crash—knock—children look round—mother’s head off—sandwich in her hand
—no mouth to put it in—head of a family off—shocking, shocking!
‘Pickwick Papers’ (1837) ch. 2 (Jingle)
‘I was ruminating,’ said Mr Pickwick, ‘on the strange mutability of human affairs.’ ‘Ah, I see—
in at the palace door one day, out at the window the next. Philosopher, sir?’ ‘An observer of
human nature, sir,’ said Mr Pickwick.
‘Pickwick Papers’ (1837) ch. 2
Kent, sir—everybody knows Kent—apples, cherries, hops, and women.