My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the formative influence of family identity on an individual during childhood.
In this quote from Charles Dickens, the character Pip shares how his family name and personal identity were established in his early years. The simplicity of his childhood experience with language reveals both the significance of family in shaping one's identity and the innocence of a child's perspective as they forge their own identity from familial ties.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of family identity in personal development.
I recollected one story there was in the village, how that on a certain night in the year (it might be that very night for anything I knew), all the dead people came out of the ground and sat at the heads of their own graves till morning.
A silent look of affection and regard when all other eyes are turned coldly away-the consciousness that we possess the sympathy and affection of one being when all others have deserted us-is a hold, a stay, a comfort, in the deepest affliction, which no wealth could purchase, or power bestow.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.
There are not a few among the disciples of charity who require, in their vocation, scarcely less excitement than the votaries of pleasure in theirs.
You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.
Christmas is a poor excuse every 25th of December to pick a man's pockets.
My mother grew up with each of her children - whatever your age, that's the age she'd be when she listened to your stories. She never belittled our problems. It made for something permanent and reliable.
I'm not thuggin' for me, I'm thuggin' for my family, I pay all the bills, I feed my whole family, wrong or right, I do and I can't stop.
The three things you can offer your children to change them: attention, appreciation and affection.
Our parents set the moral tone of the family. They expected more of some of us and less of others, but never less than they thought we were capable of.
You don't have to get rich to have [fewer] children. It has happened across the world.
I do not think we remember our family in any real sense. We live in them instead
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