It was, perhaps, one of those cases in which advice is good or bad only as the event decides.

To flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.

And to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.

She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning.

What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you.

Women are the only correspondents to be depended on.

One man's ways may be as good as another's, but we all like our own best.