The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger

Mr. Micawber:
[to young Copperfield] Boy, as I have frequently had occasion to observe, "When the stomach is empty, the spirits are low."

Aunt Betsy Trotwood:
Now that there's a child coming, what will you call your girl?

Mrs. Clara Copperfield:
Perhaps it will be a boy.

Aunt Betsy Trotwood:
Don't contradict. I have a pre-sentiment that it will be a girl. And I shall be her godmother. She shall be christened Betsy Trotwood Copperfield. She must be well brought up, I shall see to that. Far better than my impractical nephew would have done.

Mrs. Clara Copperfield:
Mr. Copperfield has been dead only six months. It is cruel of you to speak unkindly of him to me.

Mrs. Clara Copperfield:
What have you got against Mr Murdstone?

Nurse Peggotty:
[unimpressed at the meer mention of his name] Huh!

Mrs. Clara Copperfield:
Is it to be hinted at that I am lacking in affection for my precious treasure? The dearest little fellow that ever was!

Nurse Peggotty:
Nobody ever went an hinted no such thing.

Mrs. Clara Copperfield:
Am I a naughty mama to you, Davy? Am I a nasty and selfish bad mama? I don't love you at all do I

David Copperfield as a child:
[tearful] Yes you do...

Nurse Peggotty:
[the tearful three embrace] I never meant to hurt you, m'am. I never meant to.

Barkis:
No sweethearts I believe?

David Copperfield as a child:
What?

Barkis:
No person courting?

David Copperfield as a child:
Oh. No, no.

Barkis:
Ahhh. Well, when you is talking to her private, perhaps you'd tell her that Barkis is willing.

David Copperfield as a child:
That Barkis is willing. Is that all the message?

Barkis:
Well, y... y... yes. Barkis is willing.

David Copperfield as a child:
Very well, Mr Barkis. I'll tell her.

Mr. Micawber:
[Coming to David's rescue] Gentlemen!... Gentlemen!... Gentlemen!... Gentlemen!... In the aggregate I judge you to be a highly distasteful collection. And to detail: cowardly, uncouth, and deserving of merciless chastisement. You'll oblige me by removing your unsavory persons from my immediate vicinity. In short: GET OUT!

Mr. Micawber:
Copperfield, you perceive before you, the shattered fragments of a temple once call Man. The blossom is blighted. The leaf is withered. The God of Day goes down upon the dreary scene. In short, I am forever floored.

David Copperfield as a child:
But why must I go away, Aunt Betsey? I want to stay with you, and Mr. Dick.

Aunt Betsy Trotwood:
But you have to be educated, David, and take your place in the world. There isn't a finer school in Canterbury than Dr. Strong's. You must make us proud, David. Never be mean in anything. Never be false. Never be cruel. Avoid these three vices, and I can always be hopeful of you.

Dan Peggotty:
[Peggotty sits down with David Copperfield to tell him the fate of Emily, who had run off with Steerforth] Master Davy... It was in Naples, by the sea. There he wearied of her, and left her. When she knowed she was abandoned, her heart died in her. That snake - his servant - insulted her. Told her he'd been left there by his master to marry her. Something cast off for a servant's use. She tried to die by her own hand. So he locked her up, imprisoned her. And she, my poor lass, when night come, she forced a window and escaped to the shore.

Dan Peggotty:
[Peggotty continues talking, as scene changes to show Emily struggling along a rocky, windswept shore] She fought herself home. Wandering on the Yarmouth beach, she stumbled on calling out for us who loved her. Thinking that here was the old boat, and there was her dear friends. When morning broke, they found her. By God's mercy, they took her in and cared for her.

Dan Peggotty:
[Scene changes back to Peggotty and Copperfield, as Peggotty continues] All night long, we've been together. Her arms around my neck, and her head laid here. We knows full well we can put our trust in one another forevermore.

Mrs. Gummidge:
I'm a lone, lorn creature. And everything goes contrary with me.

Mr. Murdstone:
If I have an obstinate horse or a dog to deal with what do you think I'd do?

David Copperfield as a child:
I don't know.

Mr. Murdstone:
I'd beat him. I'd make him wince and smart. I say to myself, "I'll conquer that fellow". And if it were to cost him all the blood he had, I'd do it.

Nurse Peggotty:
Don't be unhappy David.

David Copperfield as a child:
I'll be happy Peggotty. And I'll see you sometimes.

[as Pegotty kisses David he notices Mr Barkis looking down at him from the cart]

David Copperfield as a child:
Oh, but Peggotty, you haven't given Mr. Barkis his proper answer, you know.

Nurse Peggotty:
Oh, bless the boy. Answer to what?

Barkis:
Barkis is willing.

Nurse Peggotty:
What would you say, darling, if I was to marry Mr. Barkis?

David Copperfield as a child:
I should think it would be a very good thing. Then you would always have the horse and cart to bring you to see me in.

Nurse Peggotty:
Oh, the sense of the boy!

Aunt Betsy Trotwood:
Janet! Donkeys!

Mr. Dick:
Do you remember the date that King Charles I had his head cut off?

David Copperfield as a child:
I believe it was in the year 1649.

Mr. Dick:
Well, so the books say, but I don't see how that can be. Because if it was so long ago how could the trouble have got out of his head when it was cut off and into mine?

David Copperfield as a child:
I'm sure I don't know.

Mr. Micawber:
Copperfield, at present, I have nothing to bestow but advice. Still, that advice is so far worth taking. I have never taken it myself, and am the miserable creature you behold. Young friend, I counsel you: annual income, 20 pounds. Annual expenditure, 19 pounds. Result? Happiness. Annual income, 20 pounds. Annual expenditure, 21 pounds. Result? Misery. Farewell, Copperfield. I shall be happy to improve your prospects, in case anything turns up - which, I may say, I am hourly expecting.

Mr. Micawber:
All that we have is yours, Master Copperfield. Our domestic comforts, quiet, the privacy, call them your own.

David Copperfield as a child:
Thank you, sir.

Mr. Micawber:
Count on us, now and forever.

David Copperfield as a child:
I will, Mr. Micawber.

Mr. Micawber:
Now that you're about to share with us the privileges of our domain, I will make no stranger of you.

Mr. Micawber:
As man to man, I will confide in you that for years, I have been hounded most unjustly by my creditors; short-sighted fools, they are.

David Copperfield as a child:
I am sorry, sir.

Mr. Micawber:
I grant you that I have already tried the coal trade, the haberdashery trade, and Her Majesty's marines, and found none of these entirely suited to my somewhat special talents, but now-...

David Copperfield as a child:
Yes, Mr. Micawber?

Mr. Micawber:
I am confidently expecting something to turn up.