Wilkins Micawber
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Wilkins Micawber is a fictional character from Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield. He was modelled on a person introduced to Dickens by his younger brother Alfred Lambert Dickens.
His name has become synonymous with someone who lives in hopeful expectation.
Also famous for the Micawber Principle:
- "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
This quote appears at first glance to be very simplistic. It does hold a nuance in that it ignores savings. If you eat into your savings , it will make you miserable eventually. If you have no savings, then exceeding your annual income, will result in debt, which is at the heart of the meaning of the principle. The avoidance of debt, especially over a span of years is essential to long term happiness.