dickens

"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that
the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men, and
travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is
condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the
world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might
have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!"
[...]
"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"

"I
wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by
link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my
own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"

Scrooge trembled more and more.

"Or
would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the
strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as
this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a
ponderous chain!"

[...]
"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!"
cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business.
The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and
benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but
a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"