A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol1984

A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts th… more »



Ebenezer Scrooge:
[on Tiny Tim] Tell me, Spirit... Will he live?

Ghost of Christmas Present:
I see an empty place at this table. I see a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, the child will die.

Ebenezer Scrooge:
No. Say he'll be spared.

Ghost of Christmas Present:
If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, none other of my species will find him here. But if he is to die, then let him die...! "AND DECREASE THE SURPLUS POPULATION!"

Ebenezer Scrooge:
You use my own words against me?

Ghost of Christmas Present:
Yes! So perhaps, in the future, you will hold your tongue until you have discovered where the surplus population is, and WHO it is. It may well be that, in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than MILLIONS like this poor man's child.

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1 Comment
  • ssake1
    I can prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Charles Dickens was not (and could not possibly have been) the original author of "A Christmas Carol." It was written by an American couple named Mathew Franklin Whittier and Abby Poyen Whittier. They wrote it as a Spiritualist novella in the Christian redemption genre, but Dickens secularized it into a ghost story. 
    LikeReply10 days ago

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"A Christmas Carol Quotes." Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 23 Jan. 2025. <https://www.quotes.net/mquote/964528>.

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