To live only to sufferโonly to feel the injury of life repeated and enlargedโit seemed to her she was too valuable, too capable, for that. Then she wondered if it were vain and stupid to think so well of herself. When had it even been a guarantee to be valuable? Wasn't all history full of the destruction of precious things? Wasn't it much more probable that if one were fine one would suffer?
Henry JamesThe women one meets - what are they but books one has already read? You're a library of the unknown, the uncut. Upon my word I've a subscription.
Henry JamesPeople talk about the conscience, but it seems to me one must just bring it up to a certain point and leave it there. You can let your conscience alone if you're nice to the second housemaid.
Henry James