Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens

Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.

Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.

So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise.