Meredith > Meredith's Quotes

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

“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

“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

“True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

“Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

“It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“Right now I'd like all my troubles to stand in front of me in a straight line, and one by one I'd give each a black eye. ”
― Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl

“We know it's all just daydreaming...But sometimes, it'd be nice just to hold something real in your hands that felt like a measure of your worth.”
― Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl

“Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters

“How easy it is to judge rightly after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters

“I know you despise me; allow me to say, it is because you do not understand me.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“A wise parent humors the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and advisor when his absolute rule shall cease.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“I choose to believe that I owe my very
life to you--ay--smile, and think it an exaggeration if you will.
I believe it, because it adds a value to that life to think--oh,
Miss Hale!' continued he, lowering his voice to such a tender
intensity of passion that she shivered and trembled before him,
'to think circumstance so wrought, that whenever I exult in
existence henceforward, I may say to myself, "All this gladness
in life, all honest pride in doing my work in the world, all this
keen sense of being, I owe to her!" And it doubles the gladness,
it makes the pride glow, it sharpens the sense of existence till
I hardly know if it is pain or pleasure, to think that I owe it
to one--nay, you must, you shall hear'--said he, stepping
forwards with stern determination--'to one whom I love, as I do
not believe man ever loved woman before.' He held her hand tight
in his. He panted as he listened for what should come. ”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“But the future must be met, however stern and iron it be. ”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It

“He did a very good impression of a stone column.”
― Shannon Hale, Princess Academy

“Clearly she was expected to say something, but panic at having to speak stole the thoughts from her head.”
― Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl

“But, how do you know if an ending is truly good for the characters unless you've traveled with them through every page?”
― Shannon Hale, Midnight in Austenland

“Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.”
― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

“One word more. You look as if you thought it tainted you to be
loved by me. You cannot avoid it. Nay, I, if I would, cannot
cleanse you from it. But I would not, if I could. I have never
loved any woman before: my life has been too busy, my thoughts
too much absorbed with other things. Now I love, and will love.
But do not be afraid of too much expression on my part.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“He shook hands with Margaret. He knew it was the first time their hands had met, though she was perfectly unconscious of the fact.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“I wanted to see the place where Margaret grew to what she is, even at the worst time of all, when I had no hope of ever calling her mine.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“Those who are happy and successful themselves are too apt to make light of the misfortunes of others.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life... My precept is, "Do something, my sister, do good if you can; but, at any rate, do something".”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“Loyalty and obedience to wisdom and justice are fine; but it is still finer to defy arbitrary power, unjustly and cruelly used--not on behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of others more helpless.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“As she realized what might have been, she grew to be thankful for what was.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“No one loves me, - no one cares for me, but you, mother.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde