Hy het voorgestel dat ek die welbekende woorde waarmee Charles Dickens sy novelle A Tale of Two Cities geopen het, aanhaal om die werklikheid wat ons in die gesig staar, vas te vang. Ek haal dus hierdie woorde aan wat hy vir my in A Tale of Two Cities gevind het:
He suggested that this morning, to capture what he considers the essence of the reality confronting us, I should recall the well-known words with which Charles Dickens opened his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. And so I quote these words: