Poverty, to be picturesque, should be rural. Suburban misery is as hideous as it is pitiable.
Anthony TrollopeA small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.
Anthony TrollopeThe difference of the English and Irish character is nowhere more plainly discerned than in their respective kitchens. With the former, this apartment is probably the cleanest, and certainly the most orderly, in the house.... An Irish kitchenis usually a temple dedicated to the goddess of disorder; and, too often, joined with her, is the potent deity of dirt.
Anthony TrollopeThere is always a piano in an hotel drawing-room, on which, of course, some one of the forlorn ladies is generally employed. I do not suppose that these pianos are, in fact, as a rule, louder and harsher, more violent and less musical, than other instruments of the kind. They seem to be so, but that, I take it, arises from the exceptional mental depression of those who have to listen to them.
Anthony Trollope