Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures. They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me. I should infinitely prefer a book.
Jane AustenNot very good, I am afraid. But now really, do not you think Udolpho the nicest book in the world?" "The nicestโby which I suppose you mean the neatest. That must depend upon the binding.
Jane AustenYes, I found myself, by insensible degrees, sincerely fond of her; and the happiest hours of my life were what I spent with her.
Jane AustenYou think me foolish to call instruction a torment, but if you had been as much used as myself to hear poor little children first learning their letters and then learning to spell, if you had ever seen how stupid they can be for a whole morning together, and how tired my poor mother is at the end of it, as I am in the habit of seeing almost every day of my life at home, you would allow that to torment and to instruct might sometimes be used as synonymous words.
Jane Austen