“MY dearest friend — White or some of my friends or the public papers by this time may have informed you of the terrible calamities that have fallen on our family. I will only give you the outlines. My poor dear dearest sister in a fit of insanity has been the death of her own mother. I was at hand only time enough to snatch the knife out of her grasp. She is at present in a mad house, from whence I fear she must be moved to an hospital. God has preserved to me my senses, — I eat and drink and sleep, and have my judgment I believe very sound. My poor father was slightly wounded, and I am left to take care of him and my aunt. Mr. Norris of the Bluecoat school has been very very kind to us, and we have no other friend, but thank God I am very calm and composed, and able to do the best that remains to do. Write, —as religious a letter as possible— but no mention of what is gone and done with. —With me “the former things are passed away,” and I have something more to do that [than] to feel. God almighty have us all in his keeping.”

—  Charles Lamb

Lamb in September 27, 1796. In his letter to Coleridge; after the family tragedy. As quoted in Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. Letters (1905).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "MY dearest friend — White or some of my friends or the public papers by this time may have informed you of the terrible…" by Charles Lamb?
Charles Lamb photo
Charles Lamb 85
English essayist 1775–1834

Related quotes

Emily Brontë photo
Patrice O'Neal photo
Miriam Makeba photo
Margaret Cho photo
Adam West photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“[Guido] Oh, my Ianthe, I live but in you,
And I will win thee, through each obstacle
By tyranny of fortune raised, my own,
My best heart's treasure! (he snatches her hand)
[Manfred] Wild fool! she is your sister!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

(12th April 1823) Dramatic Scene. Ianthe — Guido — Manfred.
(19th April 1823) Fragments see The Improvisatrice (1824) The Oak
The London Literary Gazette, 1823

Harlan Ellison photo

“And my mother said—and I remember this as if it were yesterday—my mother with a washcloth in her hand and me standing at the sink, she said, "You must have said something to get them angry."”

Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) American writer

And it was an icicle just jammed into my chest. That my own mother—and with cause! It was not as if I was the greatest kid in the world. I was a troublemaker! I was a brat! I was a big-mouth pain in the ass! But that my own mother would not understand—at that moment I had what, now at age seventy-two I understand, was an enormous epiphany, which is: I really cannot support it, I cannot bear it, when people laugh at me.
Source: Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1018887/ (documentary), at about 28:10.
Context: About being beaten up by bullies as a child.

Abigail Adams photo

“Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend. I am ready to go. And John, it will not be long.”

Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)

Last words in a letter to John Adams, as quoted in Famous Last Words (1961) by Barnaby Conrad

Malcolm X photo

Related topics