I have discovered that our great favourite, Miss Austen, is my countrywoman...with whom mamma before her marriage was acquainted. Mamma says that she was then the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers...

... they know little of the passions who seek to argue with that most intractable of them all, the fear that is born of love.

Nothing so pretty to look at as my garden!

A novel should be as like life as a painting, but not as like life as a piece of waxwork.

I have still the best comforts of life - books and friendships - and I trust never to lose my relish for either.

[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] Her sweetness of character is even beyond her genius.

I have had a great misfortune; my dear old dog is dead.