When justice happens to oppose prejudice, we are apt to believe it virtuous to disobey her.
Ann RadcliffeVirtue 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 RadcliffeFate 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 RadcliffeO! useful may it be to have shewn, that, though the vicious can sometimes pour affliction upon the good, their power is transient and their punishment certain; and that innocence, though oppressed by injustice, shall, supported by patience, finally triumph over misfortune!And, 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 itโthe effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded.
Ann Radcliffe