Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms.
There's no question in my mind that Charles Dickens is the greatest writer in the Western World. Since I can only read English I can't vouch for novels in other languages, but I would wager he's number one in the world. Unfortunately, we have the tendency to view Dickens through the lens of his sentimentality, and we all occasionally get weary of the whole Tiny Tim pathos. But Dickens was one of the first writers to include stories about the lower classes, and he had the guts to take on the big social issues of his time. Pick up a Dickens novel sometime and be patient. He sometimes doesn't hit his stride until the second chapter. But stick with it and you'll be rewarded.
