Quotes

A man in distressed circumstances has not time for all those elegant decorums which other people may observe.

The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.

We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets.

I have nothing either to hope or fear, and nothing to reproach him with.

To speak disrespectfully of love is, I know, high treason against sentiment and fine feelings; but I wish to speak the simple language of truth, and rather to address the head than the heart.

There are many wonderful mixtures in the world which are all alike called love, and claim the privileges of a sublime rage which is an apology for everything (in literature and the drama).

I have sometimes thought that the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the horrible character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on the subject could do.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

The government that seems the most unwise, Oft goodness to the people best supplies; That which is meddling, touching everything, Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

But one power should not be thrown down to exalt another--for all power intoxicates weak man; and its abuse proves, that the more equality there is established among men, the more virtue and happiness will reign in society.

The age and time of the world is as it were a flood and swift current, consisting of the things that are brought to pass in the world.

Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one thing (of humility), and manifests it to all the world.

It is not so important that many should be as good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump.

You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so.

Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.

The thought of leaving my friends was decidedly the most painful thought with which I had to contend.

The time of a man's life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition of the body tending to corruption.