Sam Weller is a fictional character in The Pickwick Papers, the first novel by Charles Dickens, and is the character that made Dickens famous. Weller first appeared in the third serialised episode. Previously the monthly parts of the book had been doing badly — the humour of the character transformed the book into a publishing phenomenon. Weller's way of quoting people has led to the label wellerism, often a type of proverb.
In chapter 10 of the novel, the eponymous hero Mr Pickwick meets Sam Weller working at the White Hart Inn in The Borough and soon takes him on as a personal servant and companion on his travels. The relationship between the idealistic and unworldly Pickwick and the astute cockney Weller has been likened to that between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Famous quotes containing the word sam:
“So Sam enters the universe of sleep, a man who seeks to live in such a way as to avoid pain, and succeeds merely in avoiding pleasure. What a dreary compromise is life!”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)