Ann Radcliffe Quotes

39 Sourced Quotes

And since, in our passage through this world, painful circumstances occur more frequently than pleasing ones, and since our sense of evil is, I fear, more acute than our sense of good, we become the victims of our feelings, unless we can in some degree command them.

Ann Radcliffe
If the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes, beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him to sustain it — the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded.

Ann Radcliffe
Calling sternness justice, he extolled that for strength of mind which was only callous insensibility.

Ann Radcliffe
Never will I give my hand where my heart does not accompany it.

Ann Radcliffe
There are some few instances in which it is virtuous to disobey.

Ann Radcliffe
How despicable is that humanity, which can be contented to pity, where it might assuage!

Ann Radcliffe
But no matter for that, you can be tolerably happy, perhaps, notwithstanding; but as for guessing how happy I am, or knowing anything about the matter,— O! its quite beyond what you can understand.

Ann Radcliffe
Do you believe your heart to be, indeed, so hardened, that you can look without emotion on the suffering, to which you would condemn me?

Ann Radcliffe
And only if I have cause of complaint, holy father? Are strong truths to be told only when there is direct cause of complaint? Is it only when we are injured that we are to be sincere?

Ann Radcliffe
But St. Aubert had too much good sense to prefer a charm to a virtue.

Ann Radcliffe
Such is the inconsistency of real love, that it is always awake to suspicion, however unreasonable; always requiring new assurances from the object of its interest.

Ann Radcliffe
There is some comfort in dying surrounded by one's children.

Ann Radcliffe
To a generous mind few circumstances are more afflicting than a discovery of perfidy in those whom we have trusted.

Ann Radcliffe
I never trust people's assertions, I always judge of them by their actions.

Ann Radcliffe
I wish that all those, who on this night are not merry enough to speak before they think, may ever after be grave enough to think before they speak!

Ann Radcliffe
He loved the soothing hour, when the last tints of light die away; when the stars, one by one, tremble through aether, and are reflected on the dark mirror of the waters; that hour, which, of all others, inspires the mind with pensive tenderness, and often elevates it to sublime contemplation.

Ann Radcliffe
He was declaring the ardour of his passion in such terms as but too often make vehemence pass for sincerity.

Ann Radcliffe
When one can hear people moving, one does not so much mind, about one's fears.

Ann Radcliffe
Happiness has this essential difference from what is commonly called pleasure, that virtue forms its basis, and virtue being the offspring of reason, may be expected to produce uniformity of effect.

Ann Radcliffe
Celestial sounds have sometimes been heard on earth.

Ann Radcliffe
Poverty cannot deprive us of many consolations. It cannot rob us of the affection we have for each other, or degrade us in our own opinion, of in that of any person, whose opinion we ought to value.

Ann Radcliffe
Fate sits on these dark battlements and frowns,
And as the portal opens to receive me,
A voice in hollow murmurs through the courts
Tells of a nameless deed.

Ann Radcliffe
It is dismal coming home, when there is nobody to welcome one!

Ann Radcliffe
What has a man's face to do with his character? Can a man of good character help having a disagreeable face?

Ann Radcliffe
When justice happens to oppose prejudice, we are apt to believe it virtuous to disobey her.

Ann Radcliffe
The refreshing pleasure from the first view of nature, after the pain of illness, and the confinement of a sick-chamber, is above the conceptions, as well as the descriptions, of those in health.

Ann Radcliffe
Virtue and taste are nearly the same, for virtue is little more than active taste, and the most delicate affections of each combine in real love.

Ann Radcliffe
The world ridicules a passion which it seldom feels; its scenes, and its interests, distract the mind, deprave the taste, corrupt the heart, and love cannot exist in a heart that has lost the meek dignity of innocence.

Ann Radcliffe
One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world. Sentiment is a disgrace, instead of an ornament, unless it lead us to good actions.

Ann Radcliffe
I ought not to doubt the steadiness of your affection. Yet such is the inconsistency of real love, that it is always awake to suspicion, however unreasonable; always requiring new assurances from the object of its interest, and thus it is, that i always feel revived, as by a new convinction, when your words tell me I am dear to you; and wanting these, I relapse into doubt and often into despondency.

Ann Radcliffe