Charles Dickens turns 204 on February 7, 2016 and nine months early (in honour of his conception) I’m celebrating with six of the twelve things he – through his characters – said about money. This isn’t my list, it’s from The Telegraph (UK) newspaper. The other six famous quotes? Well, you’ll have to wait til Chuck’s birthday when I add the balance. Or read the whole list of twelve: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/9066005/What-Charles-Dickens-said-about-money-12-memorable-quotes.html

1. Mr Micawber’s famous, and oft-quoted, recipe for happiness: “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

2. In Great Expectations, Pip’s extravagant lifestyle, furnishing his rooms and wining and dining in London, certainly has parallels to today’s “buy now, pay later” mentality. “So now, as an infallible way of making little ease great ease, I began to contract a quantity of debt.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

3. … but money doesn’t always lead to happiness. “We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

4. Even in Victorian times tax was a serious business. “It was as true … as turnips is. It was as true … as taxes is. And nothing’s truer than them.” Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

5. Dickens’s vivid description could just as easily be applied to the dangers of some payday loans today. “The father of this pleasant grandfather, of the neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant, was a horny-skinned, two-legged, money-getting species of spider who spun webs to catch unwary flies and retired into holes until they were entrapped. The name of this old pagan’s god was Compound Interest.” Charles Dickens, Bleak House

6 And his description of business practices in Martin Chuzzlewit no doubt still strikes a chord with many. “Here’s the rule for bargains. ‘Do other men, for they would do you.’ That’s the true business precept.” Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

Read the whole list of twelve: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/9066005/What-Charles-Dickens-said-about-money-12-memorable-quotes.html

The image is a detail of Charles Dickens (1812-1870) in his study at Gad’s Hill Place.