affectation is fond of making a greater show than reality. ... Nature and truth have never learned to blow the trumpet, and never will.
Lydia M. ChildIn the first place, the government ought not to be invested with power to control the affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. A man has at least as good a right to choose his wife, as he has to choose his religion. His taste may not suit his neighbors; but so long as his deportment is correct, they have no right to interfere with his concerns.
Lydia M. ChildThere have always been a large class of thinkers who deny that the world makes any progress. They say we move in a circle; that evils are never conquered, but only change their forms.
Lydia M. ChildWe must not forget that all great revolutions and reformations would look mean and meagre if examined in detail as they occurred at the time.
Lydia M. Child