407 Quotes by Elizabeth Gaskell

Though it may take much suffering to kill the able-bodied and effective members of society, it does not take much to reduce them to worn, listless, diseased creatures, who thenceforward crawl through life with moody hearts and pain-stricken bodies.

Mrs Forrester ... sat in state, pretending not to know what cakes were sent up, though she knew, and we knew, and she knew that we knew, and we knew that she knew that we knew, she had been busy all the morning making tea-bread and sponge-cakes.

I should have hoped to have trained him, my lady, to understand the rules of discretion.”“Trained! Train a barn-door fowl to be a pheasant, Mr. Horner! That would be the easier task. But you did right to speak of discretion rather than honour. Discretion looks to the consequences of actions—honour looks to the action itself, and is an instinct rather than a virtue. After all, it is possible you might have trained him to be discreet.

... that kind of patriotism which consists in hating all other nations ...

It's no wonder to my mind, when I hear ladies talk such a deal about being ladies-- and when they're such fearful, delicate, dainty ladies too-- I say it's no wonder there are no longer any saints on earth___

I know you despise me; allow me to say, it is because you do not understand me.

She continued her own studies, principally attending to German, and to Literature; and every Sunday she went alone to the German and English chapels. Her walks too were solitary, and principally taken in the allée défendue, where she was secure from intrusion. This solitude was a perilous luxury to one of her temperament; so liable as she was to morbid and acute mental suffering.

I always said a good despotism was the best form of government; and I am twice as much in favour of it now I see what a quorum is!

If you dare to injure her in the least, I will await you where no policeman can step in between. And God shall judge between us two.