“. . . What a pleasant life could be had in this world by a handsome, sensible old lady of good fortune, blessed with a sound constitution and a firm will”

“A single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else.”

“It is only poverty that makes celibacy contemptible. A single woman of good fortune is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else.”

“A woman may possess the wisdom and chastity of Minerva, and we give no heed to her, if she has a plain face. What folly will not a pair of bright eyes make pardonable? What dullness may not red lips are sweet accents render pleasant? And so, with their usual sense of justice, ladies argue that because a woman is handsome, therefore she is a fool. O ladies, ladies! there are some of you who are neither handsome nor wise. ”

“This truth I firmly hold, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding;my life has been a gift, a blessing to the world.”

“Some lovers were fortunate enough to grow old together. They’d grown old apart. She did not think him any less handsome. She only wished that she’d been there when the first line on his face had appeared, so that she could have stroked and kissed and cherished it.”