Sarah

“Il serait difficile de déterminer l'opinion exacte qu'une demoiselle a de ses propres charmes, mais Charlotte n'avait certes jamais cru que les siens méritaient la petite intrigue savante que Sidney avait pris la peine d'élaborer. Si elle avait pu en arriver à croire qu'il avait acheté la boîte tout exprès pour elle et qu'il avait longuement réfléchi pour rédiger une lettre apparemment hâtive en des termes tels que l'acceptation de Charlotte allât de soi, elle aurait donné encore plus de prix à son présent.”
― Jane Austen and another Lady

“I will come,' said Peter, but he sat on for a moment. What is this terror? what is this ecstasy? he thought to himself. What is it that fills me with extraordinary excitement?

It is Clarissa, he said.

For there she was.”
― Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

“I was co-leading a workshop with an African American man. A white participant said to him, "I don't see race; I don't see you as black." My co-trainer's response was, "Then how will you see racism?" He then explained to her that he was black, he was confident that she could see this, and that his race meant that he had a very different experience in life than she did. If she were ever going to understand or challenge racism, she would need to acknowledge this difference. Pretending that she did not noticed that he was black was not helpful to him in any way, as it denied his reality - indeed, it refused his reality - and kept hers insular and unchallenged. This pretense that she did not notice his race assumed that he was "just like her," and in so doing, she projected her reality onto him. For example, I feel welcome at work so you must too; I have never felt that my race mattered, so you must feel that yours doesn't either. But of course, we do see the race of other people, and race holds deep social meaning for us.”
― Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

“But indeed I did not wish you a pleasant walk; I never thought of such a thing; but I begged Mr. Thorpe so earnestly to stop; I called out to him as soon as ever I saw you; now, Mrs. Allen, did not—Oh! You were not there; but indeed I did; and, if Mr. Thorpe would only have stopped, I would have jumped out and run after you."

Is there a Henry in the world who could be insensible to such a declaration? Henry Tilney at least was not.”
― Jane Austen , Northanger Abbey