Facts / Now and Then (2025)
Original text in English (if you are reading it in another language, it is an automatic translation).
I found a copy of Hard Times by Dickens at the ReStore. That day, there was a special: all the books were $1 each. So these Hard Times were pretty easy to get!
The opening sentence about facts feels quite different now than it must have in the 19th century.
BOOK THE FIRST – SOWING
CHAPTER I – THE ONE THING NEEDFUL
“NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!”