Great Throughts Treasury

"The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man."

"The egotism of woman is always for two."

"The face of a woman, whatever be the force or extent of her mind, whatever be the importance of the object she pursues, is always an obstacle or a reason in the story of her life."

"The greater part of what women write about women is mere sycophancy to man."

"The language of religion can alone suit every situation and every mode of feeling."

"The more I see of man, the more I like dogs."

"The more I see of other countries the more I love my own."

"To be totally understanding makes one very indulgent."

"To pray together, in whatever tongue or ritual, is the most tender brotherhood of hope and sympathy that man can contract in this life."

"To understand everything makes one very indulgent"

"The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes."

"The most careful reasoning characters are very often the most easily abashed."

"The past which is so presumptuously brought forward as a precedent for the present was itself founded on some past that went before it."

"The sight of such a monument is like continual and stationary music which one hears for one's good as one approaches it."

"The reciprocal obligation from man to man holds the first rank; what regards ourselves, ought to be considered relatively to the influence that we may possess over the destiny of others..."

"There are women vain of advantages not connected with their persons, such as birth, rank, and fortune; it is difficult to feel less the dignity of the sex. The origin of all women may be called celestial, for their power is the offspring of the gifts of Nature; by yielding to pride and ambition they soon destroy the magic of their charms."

"We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love."

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."

"When a noble life has prepared old age, it is not the decline that it reveals, but the first days of immortality. When at eve, at the bounding of the landscape, the heavens appear to recline so slowly on the earth, imagination pictures beyond the horizon an asylum of hope--a native land of love; and nature seems silently to repeat that man is immortal."

"Virtue . . . is nearly connected with the heart: I have called it Beneficence; not in the very limited sense that is generally given to the term, but to specify thereby all the actions that emanate from active goodness."

"Tombs decked by the arts can scarcely represent death as a formidable enemy; we do not, indeed, like the ancients, carve sports and dances in the sarcophagus, but thought is diverted from the bier by works that tell of immortality, even from the altar of death."

"When we accustom ourselves to see animals suffer, we in time overcome the natural repugnancy of the sense of anguish, we become less accessible to pity even for our fellow creatures, or at least we feel no longer those involuntary impressions."

"When women oppose themselves to the projects and ambition of men, they excite their lively resentment; if in their youth they meddle with political intrigues, their modesty must suffer."

"We live in an age when self-interest alone seems to determine all of man?s acts?and what empathy, what emotion, what enthusiasm can ever grow out of self-interest. It is pleasanter to dream of those times of dedication, sacrifice, and heroism that used to be, and that have left honorable traces upon the earth."

"Whatever is natural admits of variety."

"When at eve, at the bounding of the landscape, the heavens appear to recline so slowly on the earth, imagination pictures beyond the horizon an asylum of hope?a native land of love; and nature seems silently to repeat that man is immortal."

"When once enthusiasm has been turned into ridicule, everything is undone except money and power."

"Where we really love, we often dread more than we desire the solemn moment that exchanges hope for certainty."

"Who understands much, forgives much."

"Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things that differ and the difference of things that are alike."

"Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things which differ and the difference of things which are alike."

"Where no interest is taken in science, literature and liberal pursuits, mere facts and insignificant criticisms necessarily become the themes of discourse; and minds, strangers alike to activity and meditation, become so limited as to render all intercourse with them at once tasteless and oppressive."