# Quote — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

> It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

- Author: [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md)
- Book: [A Tale of Two Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities#Chapter_I_-_The_Period) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md)
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/it-was-the

## More from this book

> I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. I see her, an old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this day. I see her and her husband, their course done, lying side by side in their last earthly bed, and I know that each was not more honoured and held sacred in the other's soul, than I was in the souls of both.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/i-see-that.md)

Topics: [memory](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory.md)

> I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no more.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/i-see-the.md)

Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md)

> I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/i-see-a-beautiful.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope.md)