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Ebenezer Scrooge Quotes

Total quotes: 36
“If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Eugenics
“Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Poverty, merry
“Jacob Marley's Ghost: You will be visited by three ghosts.

Ebenezer Scrooge: I...I think I'd rather not.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, Fear
“There's another fellow, my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I'll retire to Bedlam.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, bedlam
“I don't know what day of the month it is! I don't know how long I've been among the Spirits. I don't know anything. I'm quite a baby. Never mind. I don't care. I'd rather be a baby. Hallo! Whoop! Hallo here!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, spirits
“[singing] I will start anew / I will make amends / and I will make quite certain / that the story ends / on a note of hope / on a strong amen / and I'll thank the world / and remember when / I was able to begin again!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghosts, Amends, Starting Over
“How shall I ever understand this world? There is nothing on which it is so hard as poverty, and yet, there is nothing it condemns with such severity as the pursuit of wealth.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Poverty, Wealth
“[upon hearing Harry's two fold comments about him] As for you, Nephew, if you were in my will, I'd disinherit you!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, Will, disinherit
“You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us. Is that so, Spirit?”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Ghosts, Future, Past
“Spirit! Hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope?”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Ghosts, Beyond All Hope
“It's not my business. It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Business, Meddling
“Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, perseverance, life path
“[about Bob Cratchit] Fifteen shillings a week, a wife and five children... and he still talks of a Merry Christmas!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Poverty, Merry Christmas
“Now, I'll tell you what, my friend. I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore I am about to raise your salary!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Ghosts, Raise, salary
“Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask, but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, strange, Foot, claw
“Ghost of Christmas Present: How many of my brothers have you rejected in your miserable lifetime!

Ebenezer Scrooge: I have never met any of your brothers, sir!

Ghost of Christmas Present: You have never looked for them!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, brothers, Rejection
“There's the saucepan that the gruel was in! There's the door, by which the Ghost of Jacob Marley entered! There's the corner where the Ghost of Christmas Present, sat! There's the window where I saw the wandering Spirits! It's all right, it's all true, it all happened. Ha ha ha!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Ghost
“Spirit! Remove me from this place.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Ghosts
“Because, a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Digestive Problems
“Bah! Humbug!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas
“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, Happy, Unhappy
“Yes! Yes I do! I like Christmas! I love Christmas!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Christmas Movies
“Ebenezer Scrooge: [asking about the ghost's elder brothers] How many of them are there?

Ghost of Christmas Present: What year is this?

Ebenezer Scrooge: Eighteen hundred and sixty.

Ghost of Christmas Present: Then I have eighteen hundred and fifty-nine brothers.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, Christmas Past, brothers
“[a knock at the door]
Ebenezer Scrooge: Fire and damnation! Don't they know that I'm trying to run a business here? [flings the door open]

Nephew Fred: Uncle Ebenezer! I cannot tell you what a joy it is to see your happy, smiling face.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Oh...it's you.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghosts, Fire, Damnation, greetings, Disappointment
“Ebenezer Scrooge: And be good enough to leave me alone during business hours.

Nephew Fred: Seven o'clock on Christmas Eve? That's not business hours, that's drudgery for the sake of it, and an insult to all men of goodwill.

Bob Cratchit: Here, here!

Nephew Fred: [surprised] Thank you, Bob Cratchit.

Ebenezer Scrooge: [slowly turns to Cratchit] Another word from you, Cratchit, and you will celebrate Christmas by losing your position.

Bob Cratchit: Yes, Sir. Sorry, Mr. Scrooge.

Ebenezer Scrooge: [turning back to Fred] You're quite a powerful speaker, Sir. I wonder you don't go into politics. You're fool enough.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghosts, Goodwill, Christmas Eve, Politics
“1st Portly Gentleman: Mr. Scrooge, sir, we find it more than usually desirable than we make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Excellent! Then I suggest you do so!

2nd Portly Gentleman: What may we put down for you, sir?

Ebenezer Scrooge: Nothing, sir.

1st Portly Gentleman: Ah, you wish to remain anonymous.

Ebenezer Scrooge: I wish to be left alone, sir! That is what I wish! I don't make myself merry at Christmas and I cannot afford to make idle people merry. I have been forced to support the establishments I have mentioned through taxation and God knows they cost more than they're worth. Those who are badly off must go there.

2nd Portly Gentleman: Many would rather die than go there.

Ebenezer Scrooge: If they'd rather die, then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population, Good night, gentlemen. [walks away, then turns back] Humbug!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: charity, Poor House, Debtors Prison
“Ebenezer Scrooge: [to Bob] You still don't recognize me, do you Cratchit?

Bob Cratchit: Yes. No. You're Father Christmas?

Ebenezer Scrooge: [chuckles] No. [pulls down his mask briefly]

Mrs. Cratchit: [screams] It's Mr. Scrooge! He's gone mad!

Bob Cratchit: It's all right, dear. There's nothing to be frightened of.

Ebenezer Scrooge: No, I haven't gone mad. And on Monday, when your salary is doubled.

Bob Cratchit: Doubled? [to his wife] He has gone mad!

Ebenezer Scrooge: We'll set together and discuss how I can help your family to start with. We'll find the right doctors to get Tiny Tim well. And we will get him well you don't.

Bob Cratchit: Yes! I believe you, I believe anything!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, Disguises, Masks, charity
“Ebenezer Scrooge: Why do you walk the earth? Why'd you come to persecute me? And what is that great chain you wear?

Jacob Marley's Ghost: I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it, link by link and yard by yard, while on Earth, and now I will never be rid of it, any more than you will ever be rid of yours!

Ebenezer Scrooge: [shocked] Mine?

Jacob Marley's Ghost: It was as heavy and long as this seven Christmases ago. It's a terrible, ponderous chain you are making, Scrooge!

Ebenezer Scrooge: Tell me more, Marley, but speak comfort to me!

Jacob Marley's Ghost: I have none to give.

Ebenezer Scrooge: None?

Jacob Marley's Ghost: Comfort comes from other sources, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is given by other ministers than I to other kinds of men than you. When I lived, my spirit, like yours, never walked beyond the narrow limits of our counting house.

Ebenezer Scrooge: But you were always a good man of business, Jacob.

Jacob Marley's Ghost: Mankind should be our business, Ebenezer, but we seldom attend to it... as you shall see.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Comfort, Chains, Ghosts
“Ebenezer Scrooge: [watching Fezziwig's Christmas party] What a marvelous man...

Ghost of Christmas Past: What's so marvelous? He's merely spent a few pounds of your mortal money. Three or four, perhaps. What is that to be deserving of so much praise?

Ebenezer Scrooge: You don't understand. He had the power to make us happy or unhappy, to make our work a pleasure or a burden. It's nothing to do with money!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghosts, Marvelous, Power, Happy, Money, Unhappy
“Ebenezer Scrooge: [Ghost of Christmas Present has brought Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's home] I want to look in the window.

Ghost of Christmas Present: It will cost you nothing, which I'm sure is good news for you.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Will they be able to see me?

Ghost of Christmas Present: No, which I'm sure is good news for them.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghosts
“[Scrooge is covertly watching Harry's Christmas party]
Tom - Friend of Harry's: Harry, I've visited you every Christmas for the past five years, and to this day I can never understand this extraordinary ritual of toasting the health of your old uncle Ebenezer. I mean, everyone knows he's the most miserable old skinflint that ever walked God's earth.

Ebenezer Scrooge: [glaring] Who's he?

Ghost of Christmas Present: Oh... just a friend.

Nephew Fred: My dear Tom, it's very simple. He is indeed a despicable old miser, worse than you could ever possibly imagine. [Ghost of Christmas Present bursts out laughing]

Ebenezer Scrooge: You find this amusing?

Ghost of Christmas Present: Believe it or not, he likes you.

Nephew Fred: See, I look at it this way: If I can wish a Merry Christmas to him, who is beyond dispute the most obnoxious and parsimonious of all living creatures, then I know in my heart that I am truly a man of goodwill.

Ebenezer Scrooge: [rising to lunge at Fred] Scoundrel!

Ghost of Christmas Present: Wait! There's more to come.

Nephew Fred: And besides... I like old Scrooge!

Ghost of Christmas Present: What did I tell you?”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: miser, despicable, skinflint, Ghost
“Ebenezer Scrooge: Who are you?

Ghost of Christmas Past: I am the spirit whose coming was foretold to you.

Ebenezer Scrooge: You don't look like a ghost.

Ghost of Christmas Past: Thank you.

Ebenezer Scrooge: May I inquire more precisely who or what you are?

Ghost of Christmas Past: I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Long past?

Ghost of Christmas Past: No. Your past.

Ebenezer Scrooge: And what business brings you here?

Ghost of Christmas Past: Your welfare.

Ebenezer Scrooge: [scoffs] To be wakened by a ghost at one o'clock in the morning is hardly conducive to my welfare!

Ghost of Christmas Past: Your redemption, then.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, Christmas Past, Welfare, Redemption
“Jacob Marley's Ghost: [Scrooge has arrived in Hell] Ah! So there you are.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Marley! Where am I?

Jacob Marley's Ghost: I should have thought it was obvious. I heard you were coming down today, so I thought I'd come to greet you, show you to your quarters. Nobody else wanted to.

Ebenezer Scrooge: That's... that's very civil of you, Marley. I...I...I...I am dead, aren't I?

Jacob Marley's Ghost: As a coffin nail.

Ebenezer Scrooge: I...I had rather hoped I'd end up in Heaven.

Jacob Marley's Ghost: Did you, indeed? You may find your office here rather small, but not, I trust, unfamiliar.

Ebenezer Scrooge: Office?

Jacob Marley's Ghost: Your activities in life were so pleasing to Lucifer that he has appointed you to be his personal clerk. A singular honor. You will be to him, so to speak, what Bob Cratchit was to you.

Ebenezer Scrooge: That's not fair! It's... it's...

Jacob Marley's Ghost: Diabolical. I must confess, I find it not altogether unamusing.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghosts, Hell, Heaven, Diabolical, punishment
“Nephew Fred: A merry Christmas, Uncle Ebenezer! God save you.

Ebenezer Scrooge: God save me from Christmas. It's another humbug.

Nephew Fred: Christmas a humbug? Come, now. I'm sure you don't mean that.

Ebenezer Scrooge: And I'm sure that I do mean that. Merry Christmas, indeed. What reason have you got to be merry? You're poor enough.

Nephew Fred: What reason have you got to be miserable? You're rich enough.

Ebenezer Scrooge: There is no such thing as rich enough, only poor enough.

Nephew Fred: Don't be so dismal, Uncle Ebenezer!

Ebenezer Scrooge: What else can I be when I live in a world full of fools babbling Merry Christmas at one another? What's Christmas but a time for finding yourself a year older and not a day richer? There's nothing merry in that. If I could work my will, nephew, every idiot who goes about with Merry Christmas on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Poverty, Wealth, Humbug, Merry Christmas
“Tom Jenkins: Hot broth, Mr. Scrooge. A small token of Christmas esteem, with the compliments of Tom Jenkins.

Ebenezer Scrooge: No.

Tom Jenkins: And there'll be a free can of broth, sir, every night for the coming year in gratitude for your infinite kindness...in giving me another two weeks to pay.

Ebenezer Scrooge: One week.

Tom Jenkins: Ten days?

Ebenezer Scrooge: One week.

Tom Jenkins: [defeated] One week.

Ebenezer Scrooge: And put a lid on that stuff, I'll take it home.”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge
Tagged: Ghost, miser, Cheap
“Now, I'll tell you what, my friend. I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore, I am about to raise your salary!…A merry Christmas, Bob! A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!”
— Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol
Tagged: Bah! Humbug!, Anti-Christmas, charity, salary
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