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Oct 18·edited Oct 18Liked by Mark Newfield

On Rule #1, I am always reminded of Micawber's speech to David Copperfield (the context is that Micawber has just come out of debtor's prison and is rather loosely based on Dickens's own father who also was imprisoned for debt when Dickens was a child):

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. "

Dickens lived by himself for about 6 months in London while working at a blacking (shoe polish) factory while his parents were in debtor's prison. (Micawber is Copperfield's landlord in London, so this section of the novel is closely based on Dickens own childhood).

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Thanks for reading. And yes, these things are timeless.

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