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Who really said it

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some

Written by Charles Dickens 1812–1870 · English novelist
Verified Free to reuse

This is genuine Dickens. It appears in his sketch “A Christmas Dinner” — first published as “Christmas Festivities” in Bell’s Life in London (December 1835) and collected in Sketches by Boz (First Series, 1836) — where the wording is confirmed word-for-word: “Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some” Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Dinner," Sketches by Boz (1836)

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Provenance

The source

Work
“A Christmas Dinner,” in Sketches by Boz
Author
Charles Dickens (as “Boz”)
First published
As “Christmas Festivities” in Bell’s Life in London, December 1835; collected in Sketches by Boz, First Series, 1836

Dwell not upon the past—think not that one short year ago, the fair child now resolving into dust sat before you, with the bloom of health upon its cheek, and the gay unconsciousness of infancy in its joyous eye. Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

The line closes a passage urging readers, at Christmas, to set aside grief and count what they still have.

Read “A Christmas Dinner” at Wikisource

How we traced it

  • The exact wording appears in Dickens’s sketch “A Christmas Dinner” — read the full text at Wikisource ↗.
  • The sketch first ran as “Christmas Festivities” in Bell’s Life in London (1835) before being collected in Sketches by Boz, per The Charles Dickens Page ↗.
  • It is commonly reprinted with “plenty” swapped for “many,” as on PassItOn ↗ — the original reads “many.”
Public domain

Sketches by Boz was first published in 1836 and Dickens died in 1870; the work is long in the public domain in the United States.

Fact-check

The mix-ups

The attribution to Dickens is correct — but two smaller errors travel with this line.

“A Christmas Carol” Mis-sourced

Many collections file the line under A Christmas Carol because of its Christmas theme. It is not from the Carol; it is from the earlier sketch “A Christmas Dinner” in Sketches by Boz ↗.

“every man has plenty” Mis-worded

Quote sites frequently print “of which every man has plenty,” as on PassItOn ↗. Dickens wrote “many.”

The thought — and these exact words — are genuinely Dickens’s, from “A Christmas Dinner” in Sketches by Boz ↗ (1836).

Context

Why it endures

The line comes from one of Dickens’s earliest published pieces, written before the novels that made his name. In “A Christmas Dinner” he sketches the warmth of a family gathering and pauses to counsel readers not to let old griefs spoil the present season — a gratitude theme he would return to, most famously, in A Christmas Carol eight years later.

Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Gratitude Happiness

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

“A Christmas Dinner” (full text)en.wikisource.org

Primary text of the sketch containing the line, on Wikisource.
A Christmas Dinner — notes & historycharlesdickenspage.com

Publication history: first ran as “Christmas Festivities” in Bell’s Life in London, 1835.
Sketches by Boz (First Series)gutenberg.org

Project Gutenberg edition of the full collection.
Charles Dickensen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the author.
Sketches by Bozen.wikipedia.org

Background on Dickens’s first book and its publication.

The author

About Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

1812–1870 · English novelist & social critic

Charles Dickens was the pre-eminent novelist of the Victorian age, author of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield and Great Expectations. Sketches by Boz (1836), a collection of his early journalistic pieces published under the pen name “Boz,” was his first book and predates the novels that made him famous.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Dinner,” in Sketches by Boz, First Series (London: John Macrone, 1836). First published as “Christmas Festivities” in Bell’s Life in London, December 1835.

MLA (9th ed.)

Dickens, Charles. "A Christmas Dinner." Sketches by Boz, First Series, John Macrone, 1836.

APA (7th ed.)

Dickens, C. (1836). A Christmas dinner. In Sketches by Boz (1st series). John Macrone.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/reflect-upon-your-present-blessings-of-which-every-man-has

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