Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

A deep dive into the life of Charles Lamb (1775 – 1834), the beloved English essayist and critic. Explore his upbringing, literary works, friendships, struggles, and memorable quotes that continue to charm readers today.

Introduction

Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) is celebrated as one of the most amiable, witty, and humane voices of English letters. Though often classified as an essayist and critic, Lamb’s writing transcends standard genres: his Essays of Elia remain intimate, conversational, and richly personal.

His essays, criticism, letters, and literary collaborations reveal a mind at once playful and serious, deeply affectionate, often nostalgic, and always attuned to the peculiarities of human nature. His life, marked by personal tragedy and devotion to his sister Mary Lamb, also shapes the poignancy underlying much of his work.

Early Life and Family

Charles Lamb was born in Inner Temple, London, on 10 February 1775.

From early years Charles was close to his sister Mary; the two shared intellectual affinities and a lifelong companionship.

Lamb’s childhood was not without difficulty. He had a stutter, which hindered his ability to speak fluently and thwarted certain educational and social ambitions.

Youth and Education

Charles was sent to Christ’s Hospital, a boarding school in London, thanks in part to patronage (his father’s employer, Samuel Salt, was associated with the school). Christ’s Hospital — Thirty-five Years Ago the strict schooling environment, including the temper of Boyer.

Because of his stutter, Lamb was denied Grecian status (a scholarship or further classical honors), which limited his academic path.

He held several modest positions in his youth, including a brief post in a merchant’s office and later at the “South Sea House” (the defunct South Sea Company) before securing a longer-term appointment with the East India Company in its Accountant’s Office in London (1792).

Career and Achievements

Literary Beginnings & Collaboration with Mary Lamb

Though Charles had early literary leanings (including publishing a few sonnets in Coleridge’s volume Poems on Various Subjects in 1796), he increasingly turned to prose, where his gifts found fuller expression.

One of his most enduring collaborations was Tales from Shakespeare (1807), co-written with his sister Mary. It presented prose adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays in a tone accessible to children — tragedies by Charles, comedies by Mary.

Lamb’s major critical and personal legacy, however, lies in his essays — especially those published under the pseudonym Elia. Around 1820, he began contributing essays to The London Magazine under this persona; the collected Essays of Elia (1823) brings together some of his best work. The Last Essays of Elia appeared in 1833.

His essays are notable for conversational tone, anecdotal charm, personal asides, and a blending of memory and reflection.

On the critical side, Lamb wrote essays and criticism of Shakespeare. In On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to Their Fitness for Stage Representation, Lamb argued that Shakespeare’s plays are better read than performed, to preserve their imaginative richness.

He also compiled Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespeare (1808), helping revive interest in older dramatists and expanding the critical conversation about Elizabethan and Jacobean literature.

Personal Struggles & Tragedies

In 1796, Charles’s sister Mary underwent a mental breakdown and tragically killed their mother in a violent outburst. Lamb intervened, and Mary was placed under care thereafter.

Charles himself experienced emotional strain and periods of instability; in 1795 he spent some weeks in a mental facility.

In 1823, his Essays of Elia drew criticism from Robert Southey, who in the Quarterly Review accused Lamb of irreligion. Feeling hurt, Lamb responded with a published letter (“Elia to Southey”) defending his reverence for religion.

Lamb’s death came on 27 December 1834, from erysipelas (a streptococcus infection) contracted from a minor injury. All Saints’ Churchyard, Edmonton, alongside his sister Mary (who survived him by over a decade).

Historical Context & Milestones

• 1775: Charles Lamb born in Inner Temple, London.

• Late 1780s–1790s: Childhood schooling at Christ’s Hospital under strict discipline and influence of patron Samuel Salt.

• 1792: Joins East India Company, begins long-term civil service career.

• 1796: Mary Lamb kills their mother during a mental crisis; Mary is institutionalized.

• 1807: Publication of Tales from Shakespeare with Mary Lamb.

• 1811 onwards: Early essays and criticism begin appearing (e.g. in Reflector)

• 1823: First Essays of Elia published; lamb’s fame as an essayist grows.

• 1833: The Last Essays of Elia published.

• 1834: Death of Charles Lamb in December.

Lamb lived during the Romantic era in England, overlapping with figures like Coleridge, Wordsworth, Hazlitt, and Southey. He occupied a unique niche: less a poetic visionary and more a sensitive literary critic, wit, and humanist observer.

Legacy and Influence

• The “cult favourite” status: Lamb never became a mass literary giant in later centuries, but he remains deeply loved among literary circles for his warmth, humor, and humane voice.

• Charles Lamb Society: Founded in 1934, this society fosters scholarship on Lamb and Mary Lamb, publishes the Charles Lamb Bulletin, and organizes events in his honour.

• Namesakes and memorials: Several institutions and places in London commemorate Lamb — including houses at his former school (Christ’s Hospital), plaques, street names (Elia Street, Lamb’s Mews), and primary schools.

• Cultural resonances: His essay Dream Children inspired the composer Edward Elgar.

• Epigraph usage: His line “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once” was used as an epigraph to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

• Influence on the essay form: Lamb helped shape the personal essay as a form more intimate, conversational, reflective, and less formal than earlier models.

Personality, Character & Talents

• Witty, empathetic voice: Lamb’s writing is suffused with kindness, self-deprecation, and humor. He often addresses the reader as a companion, not as a lecturer.

• Nostalgic and antiquarian sensibility: He loved old books, the streets and architecture of London, the quirks of past times, and found value in the overlooked, dilapidated, or eccentric.

• Self-sacrifice and devotion: Lamb’s loyalty to his sister Mary was personal and enduring. He effectively devoted much of his life to her welfare, accepting discomfort and social cost.

• Inner struggle and sensitivity: His stutter, family tragedies, and emotional trials shaped the tone of his writing — often gentle, introspective, aware of human frailty.

• Literary craftsmanship: Lamb’s prose is polished yet unshowy, weaving anecdotes, descriptive sketches, reflection, and moral observation with ease.

Famous Quotes of Charles Lamb

Here are several memorable quotes that capture Lamb’s wit, warmth, and insight:

• “The greatest pleasure I know, is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.”

• “’Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.”

• “I always arrive late at the office, but I make up for it by leaving early.”

• “Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.”

• “Pain is life — the sharper, the more evidence of life.”

• “You may derive thoughts from others; your way of thinking, the mould in which your thoughts are cast, must be your own.”

• “The red-letter days, now become, to all intents and purposes, dead-letter days.”

• “Some people have a knack of putting upon you gifts of no real value, to engage you to substantial gratitude. We thank them for nothing.”

These reflect Lamb’s ironic humor, gentle moral sensibility, reflections on daily life, and affectionate view of human folly.

Lessons from Charles Lamb

1. Speak intimately, not grandly
   Lamb’s essays teach that one needn’t aim for high-flown rhetoric; sincerity, personal detail, conversational tone, and moral modesty can be deeply compelling.

2. Embrace the ordinary
   He found value in everyday streets, people, memory, and small eccentricities no less than great events — reminding us that life’s poetry often lies hidden in the mundane.

3. Devotion to others can shape a life
   Lamb’s lifelong care for his sister illustrates how love, loyalty, and responsibility may define a moral and literary character as much as talent.

4. Trauma can inform art, not overwhelm it
   Despite personal losses and mental struggles, Lamb’s writing retains tenderness and lightness, not bitterness.

5. Blend criticism and affection
   His approach to literature is not harsh judgment but affectionate engagement; one can critique with empathy and find value even in flaws.

Conclusion

Charles Lamb remains a uniquely beloved figure in English letters: a critic and essayist whose gentleness, humor, and moral warmth continue to draw readers. His Essays of Elia and his collaborations with Mary Lamb endure, not as grand intellectual projects, but as conversations across time—humane, modest, and deeply human.

If you’d like, I can prepare a recommended reading list of Lamb’s essays, letters, and criticism (with modern editions). Would you like me to send it?