Wives And Daughters Elizabeth Gaskell Quotes

Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.

How easy it is to judge rightly after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly.

There is nothing like wounded affection for giving poignancy to anger.

I won't say she was silly, but I think one of us was silly, and it was not me.

The French girls would tell you, to believe that you were pretty would make you so.

Did I ever say an engagement was an elephant, madam?

I would far rather have two or three lilies of the valley gathered for me by a person I like, than the most expensive bouquet that could be bought!

I say, Gibson, we're old friends, and you're a fool if you take anything I say as an offence. Madam your wife and I did not hit it off the only time I ever saw her. I won't say she was silly, but I think one of us was silly, and it was not me.

Nay, nay!” said the Squire. “It’s not so easy to break one’s heart. Sometimes I’ve wished it were. But one has to go on living—‘all the appointed days,’ as is said in the Bible.

All sorts of thoughts cross one's mind—it depends upon whether one gives them harbour and encouragement

I daresay it seems foolish; perhaps all our earthly trials will appear foolish to us after a while; perhaps they seem so now to angels. But we are ourselves, you know, and this is now, not some time to come, a long, long way off. And we are not angels, to be comforted by seeing the ends for which everything is sent.

Love me as I am, sweet one, for I shall never be better.

I do try to say, God’s will be done, sir,” said the Squire, looking up at Mr. Gibson for the first time, and speaking with more life in his voice; “but it’s harder to be resigned than happy people think.

Oh! A little bird told us,' said Miss Browning. Molly knew that little bird from her childhood, and had always hated it, and longed to wring its neck. Why could not people speak out and say that they did not mean to give up the name of their informant?

But fate it a cunning hussy, and builds up her plans as imperceptibly as a bird builds her nest; and with the same kind of unconsidered trifles.

Your husband this morning! Mine tonight! What do you take him for?' 'A man' smiled Cynthia. 'And therefore, if you won't let me call him changeable, I'll coin a word and call him consolable.

I think that if advice is good it's the best comfort.

I wish I could love people as you do, Molly!' 'Don't you?' said the other, in surprise. 'No. A good number of people love me, I believe, or at least they think they do; but I never seem to care much for any one. I do believe I love you, little Molly, whom I have only known for ten days, better than any one.

Women are queer, unreasoning creatures, and are just as likely as not to love a man who has been throwing away his affection.

he had never known her value, he thought, till now.

As far as one knows of heroines from history. I'm capable of a great jerk, an effort, and then a relaxation—but steady every-day goodness is beyond me. I must be a moral kangaroo!

To begin with the old rigmarole of childhood. In a country there was a shire, and in that shire there was a town, and in that town there was a house, and in that house there was a room, and in that room there was a bed, and in that bed there lay a little girl;

he is the personification of sensible silence.

It is right to hope for the best about everybody, and not to expect the worst. This sounds like a truism, but it has comforted me before now, and some day you'll find it useful. One has always to try to think more of others than of oneself, and it is best not to prejudge people on the bad side.

I don't mind your calling me a clog, if only we were fastened together." "But I do mind you calling me a donkey," he replied.

Oh, don't be so wise and stupid.

Never mind what she was; look at what she is!

...being daunted by her father in every intellectual attempt, she read every book that came in her way, almost with as much delight as if it had been forbidden.

He felt every day more and more certain that she, and she alone, could make him happy.

Pooh! away with love! Nay, my dear, we loved each other so dearly we should never have been happy with any one else; but that's a different thing. People aren't like what they were when we were young. All the love nowadays is just silly fancy, and sentimental romance, as far as I can see.

Molly suddenly felt as if she could scarcely keep from crying - a minute ago he had been so near to her, and talking so pleasantly and confidentially; and now he almost seemed as if he had forgotten her existence.

She did not answer. She could not tell what words to use. She was afraid of saying anything, lest the passion of anger, dislike, indignation - whatever it was that was boiling up in her breast - should find vent in cries and screams, or worse, in raging words that could never be forgotten. It was as if the piece of solid ground on which she stood had broken from the shore, and she was drifting out to the infinite sea alone.

I did try to remember what you said, and to think more of others, but it is so difficult sometimes [...] live only in trying to do, and to be, as other people like. I don't see any end to it. I might as well never have lived.

Let us alone, little woman. We understand each other, don't we, doctor? Why, bless your life, he gives me better than he gets many a time; only, you see, he sugars it over, and says a sharp thing, and pretends it's all civility and humility; but I can tell when he's giving me a pill.

Give me a wise man of science in love! No one beats him in folly.

In general, it is the people who are left behind stationary, who give way to low spirits at any parting; the travellers, however bitterly they may feel the separation, find something in the change of scene to soften regret in the very first hour of separation.

Indeed! I am truly glad to hear it. I always always fond of Osborne; and, do you know, I never really took to Roger; I respected him and all that, of course. But to compare him with Mr. Henderson! Mr. Henderson is so handsome and well-bred, and gets all his gloves from Houbigant!

Osborne and Roger knowing that the wife of the former was a Frenchwoman, and, conscious of each other's knowledge, felt doubly awkward; while Molly was as much confused as though she herself were secretly married.

I declare I don't know which of her three lovers she may not summon at the very last moment to act the part of bridegroom. I'm determined to be surprised at nothing; and will give her away with a good grace to whoever comes.

Each dainty little child ran up to its mother, or aunt, or particular friend; but Molly had no one to go to.

I'm sure it was not wrong in morals, whatever it might be in judgement.

He was lashing himself again into an impotent rage, painful to a son to witness

He had married a delicate fine London lady; it was one of those perplexing marriages of which one cannot understand the reasons.

They were on those happy terms where silence is permissible, and where efforts to act against the prevailing mood of the mind are not required.

I think if I had been differently brought up I shouldn't have had the sore angry heart I have.

I sometimes think he's half a woman himself, he spends so much money and is so unreasonable.

Somehow, I cannot forgive her for her neglect of me as a child, when I would have clung to her.

I think I will never sit down to play again!

am so well prepared for misfortune by the frequent contemplation of its possibility that I believe I can receive any ill news with apparent equanimity and real resignation.

Only half of Roger's success was owing to his mental powers; the other half was owing to his perfect health, which enabled him to work harder and more continuously than most men without suffering. He said that in all his experience he had never known any one with an equal capacity for mental labour; and that he could come again with a fresh appetite to his studies after shorter intervals of rest than most.

But I got through the review, for all their Latin and French; I did, and if you doubt me, you just look at the end of the great ledger, turn it upside down, and you'll find I've copied out all the fine words they said of you: "careful observer," "strong nervous English," "rising philosopher." Oh! I can nearly say it all off by heart, for many a time when I am frabbed by bad debts, or Osborne's bills, or moidered with accounts, I turn the ledger wrong way up, and smoke a pipe over it, while I read those pieces out of the review which speak about you, lad!

...And as for your hair!it's worse than ever.Can't you drench it in water to take those untidy twists and twirls out of it?' 'It only makes it curl more and more whey it gets dry,' said Molly, sudden tears coming into her eyes as a recollection came before her like a picture seen long ago and forgotten for years-a young mother washing and dressing her little girl; placing the half-naked darling on her knee, and twining the wet rings of dark hair fondly round her fingers, and then, in ecstasy of fondness, kissing the little curly head.

Roger let go; they were now on firm ground, and he did not wish any watchers to think that he was exercising any constraint over his father; and this quiet obedience to his impatient commands did more to soothe the Squire than anything else could have effected just then.

Such decisions ab extra* are sometimes a wonderful relief to those whose habit it has been to decide, not only for themselves, but for every one else;and occasionally the relaxation of the strain which a character for infallible wisdom brings with it does much to restore health. *from outside

All sorts of thoughts cross one's mind—it depends upon whether one gives them harbour and encouragement,' said Molly.

The truth had entered his soul before this, and he knew that no doctor, be he ever so cunning, could, with all his striving, put the breath into that body again.

Yo soy una de esas personas, como dice mamá a veces, que son incapaces de vivir con alguien que no las tiene en buen concepto. Considéralo una debilidad o un pecado.

Allí estaba ella, asustada, y sin embargo valerosa, perseverando en sus intenciones, incluso cuando todo parecía en su contra.

El desahogo es la única buena consecuencia de todo esto. El consuelo de volver a sentirme libre. Me agotaba el esfuerzo de tener que estar a la altura de su bondad.

You must never trifle with the love of an honest man. You don't know what pain you may give

Don't repeat evil on any authority unless you can do some good by speaking about it.

Only remember, Miss Phoebe, it's you and I against the world, in defence of a distressed damsel.

His was not the poor vanity that thinks more of the possible mortification of a refusal than of the precious jewel of a bride that may be won.

But, after all, these were the small grievances of a very happy childhood.

He had not an ounce of superfluous flesh on his bones; and leanness goes a great way to gentility. His complexion was sallow, and his hair black;

More folks know Tom Fool, than Tom Fool knows,

So the visit was deferred to that more convenient season which is so often too late.

His thoughts did not come readily to the surface in the shape of words; nor was he apt at giving comfort till he saw his way clear to the real source from which consolation must come.

Nonsense. I am so well prepared for misfortune by the frequent contemplation of its possibility that I believe I can receive any ill news with apparent equanimity and real resignation.

I am not good, and I told you so. Somehow I cannot forgive her for her neglect of me as a child, when I would have clung to her. Besides, I hardly ever heard from her when I was at school. And I know she put a stop to my coming over to her wedding. I saw the letter she wrote to Madame Lefevre. A child should be brought up with its parents, if it is to think them infallible when it grows up.

The spring of life had begun again to flow, and with the flow returned the old desires and projects and plans, which had all become mere matters of indifference during the worst part of her illness.

I do try to say, God's will be done, sir,' said the squire, looking up at Mr. Gibson for the first time, and speaking with more life in his voice; 'but it is harder to be resigned than happy people think.

One can't account for everything,' said Lady Harriet, a little impatiently, for reason was going hard against her. 'But I choose to have faith in Molly Gibson. I'm sure she's not done anything very wrong.

The more she bade these fancies begone the more they answered her (as Daniel O'Rourke did the man in the moon, when he bade Dan get off his seat on the sickle, and go into empty space), 'The more ye ask us the more we won't stir.

Pero Roger era el mismo de siempre; "imperturbable como el Tiempo", como decía la señora Gibson, con su habitual originalidad; "fuerte como roca, bajo cuya sombra siempre hay reposo", como la señora Hamley había dicho una vez de él.

De hecho, esa era la impresión que causaba a todos los hombres. Primero se quedaban sorprendidos por su físico; a continuación por lo poco engreída que era; como si les dijera: "Tú eres sabio y yo estúpida: ten piedad de mi estupidez".

En contra de su voluntad empezó a temer que también ella acabara actuando del mismo modo. Pero haría todo lo posible para no apartarse del recto camino: y, si se desviaba de él, sería solo para evitarles sufrimiento a aquellos que amaba.

If sometimes she forgot and let herself go into all her old naturalness, by-and-by she checked herself, and became comparatively cold and reserved. Roger was pained at all this—more pained day after day; more anxious to discover the cause.

I shall not be at home until the afternoon, my dear! But I hope you will not find it dull. I don't think you will, for you are something like me, my love—never less alone than when alone, as one of the great authors has justly expressed it.

Think of us on Thursday,' said he. 'I declare I don't know which of her three lovers she may not summon at the very last moment to act the part of bridegroom. I'm determined to be surprised at nothing; and will give her away with a good grace to whoever comes.

Partners whose names were in the 'Red Book' would not have produced half the amount of fatigue, according to Mrs. Gibson's judgment apparently, and if Cynthia had been quite well, very probably she would have hit the blot in her mother's speech with one of her touches of sarcasm.

I don't think I am pretty,' thought Molly, as she turned away from the glass; 'and yet I am not sure.' She would have been sure, if, instead of inspecting herself with such solemnity, she had smiled her own sweet merry smile, and called out the gleam of her teeth, and the charm of her dimples.

I consider the thought as everything,' said Mrs. Gibson. 'Thought is spiritual, while action is merely material.' This fine sentence took the speaker herself by surprise; and in such conversation as was then going on, it is not necessary to accurately define the meaning of everything that is said.

But how does your ladyship explain away her meetings with Mr Preston in all sorts of unlikely and open-air places?' asked Miss Browning, who, to do her justice, would have been only too glad to join Molly's partisans, if she could have preserved her character for logical deduction at the same time.

Hollingford speculated much on which young lady would become Mrs Gibson, and was rather sorry when the talk about possibilities, and the gossip about probabilities with regard to the handsome young surgeon's marriage, ended in the most natural manner in the world, by his marrying his predecessor's niece.

He was imperfectly educated, and ignorant on many points; but he was aware of his deficiency, and regretted it in theory. He was awkward and ungainly in society, and so kept out of it as much as possible; and he was obstinate, violent-tempered, and dictatorial in his own immediate circle. On the other side, he was generous, and true as steel; the very soul of honour, in fact. He had so much natural shrewdness, that his conversation was always worth listening to, although he was apt to start by assuming entirely false premises, which he considered as incontrovertible as if they had been mathematically proved;

To begin with the old rigmarole of childhood. In a country there was a shire, and in that shire there was a town, and in that town there was a house, and in that house there was a room, and in that room there was a bed, and in that bed there lay a little girl; wide awake and longing to get up, but not daring to do so for the fear of the unseen power in the next room - a certain Betty, whose slumbers must not be disturbed until six o'clock struck, when she wakened of herself 'as sure as clockwork,' and left the household very little peace afterwards. It was a June morning, and early as it was, the room was full of sunny warmth and light.

My idea of nursing is that one should not be always thinking of one's own feelings and wishes, but doing those things which will most serve to beguile the weary hours of an invalid. But then so few people have had to consider the subject so deeply as I have done!' Mrs. Gibson here thought fit to sigh before going on with Cynthia's letter.

That's a nice girl of Gibson's,' quoth he to himself. 'But what a tight hold the wench got of the notion of his marrying again! One had need be on one's guard as to what one says before her. To think of her never having thought of the chance of a step-mother. To be sure, a step-mother to a girl is a different thing to a second wife to a man!

Mrs. Gibson had once or twice reproved them for the merry noise they had been making, which hindered her in the business of counting the stitches in her pattern; and she had set herself a certain quantity to do that morning before going out, and was of that nature which attaches infinite importance to fulfilling small resolutions, made about indifferent trifles without any reason whatever.

Beginning with scarlet fever, I'm afraid. It's well you left when you did, Molly. You've never had it. We must stop up all intercourse with the Hall for a time. If there's one illness I dread, it is this.' 'But you go and come back to us, papa.' 'Yes. But I always take plenty of precautions. However, no need to talk about risks that lie in the way of one's duty. It is unnecessary risks that we must avoid.

Mrs. Gibson, it is true, was ready to go over the ground as many times as any one liked; but her words were always like ready-made clothes, and never fitted individual thoughts. Anybody might have used them, and, with a change of proper names, they might have served to describe any ball. She repeatedly used the same language in speaking about it, till Molly knew the sentences and their sequence even to irritation.

El escándalo duerme en verano. Es de naturaleza inversa a la del lirón. En verano, el calor, los paseos por el campo, la jardinería, la charla sobre las flores y las conservas que hay que preparar adormecen al perverso diablillo que mora en el municipio de Hollingford. Pero, a medida que los días se acortan, y la gente se reúne alrededor del fuego, y dispone los pies en círculo -no sobre la pantalla, pues eso no estaba permitido-, comienzan entonces las conversaciones a media voz.

That's just the fault I always found with him; sensible and cold- hearted! Now, that's a kind of character which may be very valuable, but which revolts me. Give me warmth of heart, even with a little of that extravagance of feeling which misleads the judgment, and conducts into romance. Poor Mr. Kirkpatrick! That was just his character. I used to tell him that his love for me was quite romantic. I think I have told you about his walking five miles in the rain to get me a muffin once when I was ill?

Al oírlo toser entró su nuera, quien le dijo al señor Hamley que esos accesos eran muy frecuentes, y que en uno de ellos el viejo Silas se quedaría. Lo dijo sin tapujos delante del anciano, que ahora jadeaba exhausto sobre el almohadón. Los pobres aceptaban lo inevitable de la muerte de una manera más franca de lo que era habitual entre la gente cultivada. El hidalgo se quedó pasmado ante lo que le pareció una muestra de insensibilidad, pero el anciano había recibido amorosos cuidados de su nuera, y lo que ella acababa de decir le sorprendía tan poco como que el sol saliera al día siguiente.

- ¡Oh, estoy tan contenta de que hayas venido! Es tan agradable ir a caballo al aire libre, tan fresco, oliendo la hierba húmeda al aplastarse. ¡Papá! ¿Estás ahí? No te veo. -El señor Gibson se colocó junto a su hija: no sabía si le daría miedo cabalgar en la oscuridad, así que le puso una mano en el hombro.- Papá, me gustaría tener una cadena como la de Ponto, tan larga que llegara a la casa de tu paciente más lejano, y nos ataríamos uno de cada extremo, y cuando yo quisiera que vinieras a mi lado tiraría de ella y si no quisieras venir, tirarías de tu extremo. Pero yo sabría que tú sabías que yo te quería a mi lado, y nunca nos perderíamos el uno al otro.

Una de las cosas que más le intrigaba era cómo se llevaban en realidad el señor y la señora Gibson; otra, si la señora Gibson era derrochadora o no. Así pues, el hecho de que ella le hubiera escrito dos veces en su ausencia demostraba lo que, en aquellos días, se consideraba un afecto conyugal bastante aceptable. Aunque tampoco un exceso: a once peniques y medio el franqueo, una tercera carta habría sido un despilfarro. Una hermana miró a la otra con un gesto de asentimiento cuando Molly aludió a la segunda carta, que llegó a Hollingford justo un día antes de la fecha prevista para el retorno de la señora Gibson. Habían acordado entre ellas que dos cartas arrojaban una cantidad aceptable de buenos sentimientos y adecuado entendimiento entre la familia Gibson: más habría sido un derroche; solo una se habría considerado simple cumplimiento de un deber.

Ah! Mr. Osborne, you should have been there! I said to myself many a time how you really should have been there—you and, your brother of course.' 'I thought of you very often during the evening!' 'Did you? Now that I call very kind of you. Cynthia, darling! Do you hear what Mr. Osborne Hamley was saying?' as Cynthia came into the room just then. 'He thought of us all on the evening of the ball.' 'He did better than merely remember us then,' said Cynthia, with her soft slow smile. 'We owe him thanks for those beautiful flowers, mamma.' 'Oh!' said Osborne, 'you must not thank me exclusively. I believe it was my thought, but Roger took all the trouble of it.' 'I consider the thought as everything,' said Mrs. Gibson. 'Thought is spiritual, while action is merely material.' This fine sentence took the speaker herself by surprise; and in such conversation as was then going on, it is not necessary to accurately define the meaning of everything that is said. 'I'm afraid the flowers were too late to be of much use though,' continued Osborne. 'I met Preston the next morning, and of course we talked about the ball. I was sorry to find he had been beforehand with us,

A school-girl may be found in every school who attracts and influences all the others, not by her virtues, nor her beauty, nor her sweetness, nor her cleverness, but by something that can neither be described nor reasoned upon. It is the something alluded to in the old lines:— 'Love me not for comely grace, For my pleasing eye and face; No, nor for my constant heart,— For these may change, and turn to ill, And thus true love may sever. But love me on, and know not why, So hast thou the same reason still To dote upon me ever.' A woman will have this charm, not only over men but over her own sex; it cannot be defined, or rather it is so delicate a mixture of many gifts and qualities that it is impossible to decide on the proportions of each. Perhaps it is incompatible with very high principle; as its essence seems to consist in the most exquisite power of adaptation to varying people and still more various moods; 'being all things to all men.' At any rate, Molly might soon have been aware that Cynthia was not remarkable for unflinching morality; but the glamour thrown over her would have prevented Molly from any attempt at penetrating into and judging her companion's character, even had such processes been the least in accordance with her own disposition.

But this morning her old sweet, frank manner had returned—in their last interview, at any rate. He puzzled himself hard to find out what could have distressed her at breakfast-time. He even went so far as to ask Robinson whether Miss Gibson had received any letters that morning; and when he heard that she had had one, he tried to believe that the letter was in some way the cause of her sorrow. So far so good. They were friends again after their unspoken difference; but that was not enough for Roger. He felt every day more and more certain that she, and she alone, could make him happy. He had felt this, and had partly given up all hope, while his father had been urging upon him the very course he most desired to take. No need for 'trying' to love her, he said to himself,—that was already done. And yet he was very jealous on her behalf. Was that love worthy of her which had once been given to Cynthia? Was not this affair too much a mocking mimicry of the last? Again just on the point of leaving England for a considerable time! If he followed her now to her own home,—in the very drawing-room where he had once offered to Cynthia! And then by a strong resolve he determined on this course. They were friends now, and he kissed the rose that was her pledge of friendship.