No One Is Useless In This

Spoken by John Rokesmith (alias Harmon) to Bella Wilfer in Our Mutual Friend (1864–65), Dickens's final completed novel. Bella has confessed to feeling useless, and Rokesmith offers this consolation. The novel is saturated with Dickens's critique of a society that values people only for their wealth or social utility; this line quietly argues the opposite — that quiet human acts of kindness are the truest form of purpose. Our Mutual Friend is widely regarded as one of Dickens's most sophisticated works, rich in social satire.