“A Christmas Carol” quotes

“Ebenezer, I release you. You are a free man. I let you go with a full heart. May you be happy in the life you have chosen.”
Lucy Gutteridge - Belle

“Good Spirit, your nature intercedes for me and pities me. Assure me that I may yet change these shadows, by an altered life. I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

- Ghost of Christmas Present: 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.

Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

“- Ebenezer Scrooge: Who are you?
- Jacob Marley: Ask me who I was.
- Ebenezer Scrooge: You're particular for a ghost. Who were you then.
- Jacob Marley: In life I was your partner. Jacob Marley.”
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Frank Finlay - Jacob Marley

“- Mr. Poole: Mr. Scrooge, I presume?
- Ebenezer Scrooge: Indeed you do, sir.
- Mr. Poole: You don't know us?
- Ebenezer Scrooge: Nor do I wish to.”
Michael Gough - Mr. Poole
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

“- Ebenezer Scrooge: Why are these people out here? Men and women in rags. Children eating scraps! There are institutions.
- Ghost of Christmas Present: Have you visited any of them? These institutions you speak of?
- Ebenezer Scrooge: No! I am taxed for them. Isn't that enough?”
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present

“- Tiny Tim: Merry Christmas, Sir!
- Ebenezer Scrooge: Humbug.”
Anthony Walters - Tiny Tim
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

“I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard. Is its pattern strange to you or would you know the length of the strong coils you bear yourself? It was as full, as heavy, as long as this seven Christmas eves ago, you have labored on it since, it is a ponderous chain!”

Frank Finlay - Jacob Marley

“His wealth is quite useless to him, really. He doesn't do any good with it; he doesn't even make himself comfortable with it.”

Roger Rees - Fred Holywell

“These are garments, Mr. Cratchit. Garments were invented by the human race as a protection against the cold. Once purchased, they may be used indefinitely for the purpose for which they are intended.”
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

“- Tiny Tim: Merry Christmas, Mister Scrooge.
- Ebenezer Scrooge: Don't beg on this corner, boy.
- Tiny Tim: I'm not begging, Sir. I'm Tim Cratchit. I'm waiting for my father.”

Anthony Walters - Tiny Tim
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge

“God bless us, everyone.”
Anthony Walters - Tiny Tim

- Ebenezer Scrooge: What are they?
- Ghost of Christmas Present: They are your children! They are the children of all who walk the earth unseen! Their names are Ignorance and Want! Beware of them, for upon their brow is written the word "doom"! They spell the downfall of you and all who deny their existence!

George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present

“- Ebenezer Scrooge: Why do you show me this? What has it to do with me?
- Ghost of Christmas Present: Are they not of the human race?”

George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present

- Ebenezer Scrooge: I almost went after her.
- Ghost of Christmas Past: "Almost" carries no weight. Especially in matters of the heart.

George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Angela Pleasence - Ghost of Christmas Past

“- Ebenezer Scrooge: Where are we now? I'm sure I don't know this place.
- Ghost of Christmas Present: The name would mean nothing to you. It's a place, like many in this world.”
George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present

“- Ebenezer Scrooge: 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.”

George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge
Edward Woodward - Ghost of Christmas Present

“Spirit, what perversity is this? I've asked to see some emotion connected with that man's death... and you've shown me only greed, and malice, and apathy! Let me see some tenderness, some... depth of feeling!”

George C. Scott - Ebenezer Scrooge