“A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!”

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

“If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.”

“I must learn to be content with being happier than I deserve.”

“Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world.”

“I do believe God gave me a spark of genius, but he quenched it in misery.”

“We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same con...”