Frances Burney > Quotes

“Unused to the situations in which I find myself, and embarassed by the slightest difficulties, I seldom discover, till too late, how I ought to act.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“Generosity without delicacy, like wit without judgement, generally gives as much pain as pleasure.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“She [Evelina] is not, indeed, like most modern young ladies; to be known in half an hour; her modest worth, and fearful excellence, require both time and encouragement to show themselves.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“You must learn not only to judge but to act for yourself.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“I revere you. I esteem and admire you above all human beings. You are the friend to whom my soul is attached as to its better half. You are the most amiable, the most perfect of women. And you are dearer to me than language has the power of telling… You are now all my own… How will my soul find room for its happiness? It seems already bursting!”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“it is sometimes dangerous to make requests to men, who are too desirous of receiving them.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“I have the honour to be quite of your Lordship's opinion," said Mr. Lovel, looking maliciously at Mrs. Selwyn, "for I have an insuperable aversion to strength, either of body or mind, in a female."

"Faith, and so have I," said Mr. Coverley; "for egad I'd as soon see a woman chop wood, as hear her chop logic."

"So would every man in his senses," said Lord Merton; "for a woman wants nothing to recommend her but beauty and good nature; in every thing else she is either impertinent or unnatural. For my part, deuce take me if ever I wish to hear a word of sense from a woman as long as I live!"

"It has always been agreed," said Mrs. Selwyn, looking round her with the utmost contempt, "that no man ought to be connected with a woman whose understanding is superior to his own. Now I very much fear, that to accommodate all this good company, according to such a rule, would be utterly impracticable, unless we should chuse subjects from Swift's hospital of idiots.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“To despise riches, may, indeed, be philosophic, but to dispense them worthily, surely, must be more beneficial to mankind.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“Remember, my dear Evelina, nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman: it is, at once, the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“he has no more manners than a bear,”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“The world...is too full of real evil for me at least, to cause one moment of unnecessary uneasiness to any of its poor pilgrims. 'Tis strange...that this is not more generally considered, since the advantage would be so reciprocal from man to man. But wrapt up in our own short moment, we forget our neighbour's long hour! and existence is ultimately embittered to all, by the refined susceptibility for ourselves that monopolizes our feelings.”
― Frances Burney, Camilla

“What arguments, what persuasions can I make use of, with any prospect of success, to such a woman as Madame Duval? ...She is too ignorant for instruction, too obstinate for entreaty, and too weak for reason.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“Her next solicitude was to furnish herself with a well-chosen collection of books: and this employment, which to a lover of literature, young and ardent in its pursuit, is perhaps the mind's first luxury, proved a source of entertainment so fertile and delightful that it left her nothing to wish.”
― Fanny Burney, Cecilia

“Never shall I recollect the occasion he gave me of displeasure, without feeling it renewed.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“..-and the honour you did me, no man could have been more sensible of; I am ignorant, therefore, how I have been so unfortunate as to forfeit it:-but, at present, all is changed! you fly me,-your averted eye shuns to meet mine, and you sedulously avoid my conversation.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“But alas, my dear child, we are the slaves of custom, the dupes of prejudice, and dare not stem the torrent of the opposing world, even though our judgments condemn our compliance! However, since the die is cast, we must endeavor to make the best of it.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“Why he's a poet, you know, so he may live upon learning.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“From my earliest youth to the present hour...literature has been the favourite object of my pursuit, my recreation in leisure, and my hope in employment. My propensity to it, indeed, has been so ungovernable, that I may properly call it the source of my several miscarriages throughout life. It was the bar to my preferment, for it gave me a distaste to other studies; it was the cause of my unsteadiness in all my undertakings, because to all I preferred it. It has sunk me to distress, it has involved me in difficulties; it has brought me to the brink of ruin by making me neglect the means of living, yet never, till now, did I discern it might itself be my support.”
― Frances Burney, Cecilia

“Lord Orville seemed by no means to think the Captain worthy an argument, upon a subject concerning which he had neither knowledge nor feeling.”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“It seldom happens that a man, though extolled as a saint, is really without blemish; or that another, though reviled as a devil, is really without humanity.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“She [Madame Duvall] seems desirious to repair the wrongs she has done, yet wishes the world to believe her blameless.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina, or, the history of a young lady's entrance into the world. The third edition. Volume 2 of 3

“There is no young creature, my Lord, who so greatly wants, or so earnestly wishes for, the advice and assistance of her friends, as I do: I am new to the world, and unused to acting for myself;-my intentions are never willfully blameable, yet I err perpetually!”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“Mock you!" repeated he earnestly, "no I revere you! I esteem and I admire you above all human beings! you are the friend to whom my soul is attached as to its better half! you are the most amiable, the most perfect of women! and you are dearer to me than language has the power of telling.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina, or, the history of a young lady's entrance into the world. The third edition. Volume 2 of 3

“To Sir Clement, my Lord," said I, "attribute nothing. He is the last man in the world who would have any influence over my conduct.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“Be ever thus, my dearest Evelina, dauntless in the cause of distress! let no weak fears, no timid doubts, deter you from the exertion of your duty, according to the fullest sense of it that nature has implanted in your mind.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“There is nothing", answered he, "which requires more immediate notice than impertinence, for it ever encroaches when it is tolerated.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“In all ranks and all stations of life, how strangely characters and manners differ!”
― Frances Burney, Evelina

“...let me counsel you to remember that a lady, whether so called form birth or only from fortune, should never degrade herself by being put on a level with writers, and such sort of people.”
― Fanny Burney, Cecilia

“No, my Lord," answered she, "it would have been from mere shame, that, in an age so daring, you alone should be such a coward as to forbear to frighten women."

"o", cried he, laughing, "when a man is in a fright for himself, the ladies cannot but be in security; for you have not had half the apprehension for the safety of your persons, that I have for that of my heart.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina

“You could not see and know her, and remain unmoved by those sensations of affection which belong to so near and tender a relationship.”
― Fanny Burney, Evelina