But I think I’m coloured by my own wishes, & experimental mood.

and even a tea party means apprehension, breakage

A woman knows very well that, though a wit sends her his poems, praises her judgment, solicits her criticism, and drinks her tea, this by no means signifies that he respects her opinions, admires her understanding, or will refuse, though the rapier is denied him, to run through the body with his pen.

Only longing can fill with more of itself.

There are moments when one can neither think nor feel, she thought, and if one can neithre feel nor think, where's one?

No sooner have you feasted on beauty with your eyes than your mind tells you that beauty is vain and beauty passes

For such will be our ruin if you, in the immensity of your public abstractions, forget the private figure, or if we in the intensity of our private emotions forget the public world. Both houses will be ruined, the public and the private, the material and the spiritual, for they are inseparably connected.