“Eugene, Eugene, Eugene, this is a bad business!”

“A curious monomaniac,' said Eugene. 'The man seems to believe that everybody was acquainted with his mother!”

“I am in a ridiculous humour,' quoth Eugene; 'I am a ridiculous fellow. Everything is ridiculous. Come along!”

“You hear, Eugene?' said Lightwood over his shoulder. 'You are deeply interested in lime.''Without lime,' returned that unmoved barrister at law, 'my existence would be unilluminated by a ray of hope.”

“What is he to learn? To imitate? Or to avoid? When your friends the bees worry themselves about their sovereign, and become perfectly distracted touching the slightest monarchical movement, are we men to learn the greatness of Tuft-hunting, or the littleness of the Court Circular? I am not clear, Mr. Boffin, but that the hive may be satirical.'At all events, they work,' said Mr. Boffin.Ye-es,' returned Eugene, disparagingly, 'they work; but don't you think they overdo it?”

“ 'How a mother can look at her baby, and know that she lives beyond her husband's means, I cannot imagine.' ""Eugene suggests that Mrs. Lammle, not being a mother, had no baby to look at."" 'True, but the principle is the same.' ""Boots is clear that the principle is the same. So is Buffer. It is the unfortunate destiny of Buffer to damage a cause by espousing it. The rest of the company have meekly yielded to the proposition that the principle is the same, until Buffer says that it is; when instantly a general murmur arises that the principle is not the same.”

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”