Jane Porter Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“Happiness is not perfected until it is shared.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Be shocking, be daring, be bold, be passionate.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Happiness is a sunbeam which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray; nay, when it strikes on a kindred heart, like the converged light on a mirror, it reflects itself with redoubled brightness. It is not perfected till it is shared.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Bright was the summer of 1296. The war which had desolated Scotland was then at an end.”
-- Jane Porter -
“The pure in heart are slow to credit calumnies, because they hardly comprehend what motives can be inducements to the alleged crimes.”
-- Jane Porter -
“If cowardice were not so completely a coward as to be unable to look steadily upon the effects of courage, he would find that there is no refuge so sure as dauntless valor.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Lachrymal counsellors, with one foot in the cave of despair, and the other invading the peace of their friends, are the paralyzers of action, the pests of society, and the subtlest homicides in the world; they poison with a tear; and convey a dagger to the heart while they press you to their bosoms.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Life is a warfare; and he who easily desponds deserts a double duty--he betrays the noblest property of man, which is dauntless resolution; and he rejects the providence of that All-Gracious Being who guides and rules the universe.”
-- Jane Porter -
“The doubts of love are never to be wholly overcome; they grow with its various anxieties, timidities, and tenderness, and are the very fruits of the reverence in which the admired object is beheld.”
-- Jane Porter -
“The flatterer easily insinuates himself into the closet, while honest merit stands shivering in the hall or antechamber.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Virtue, without the graces, is like a rich diamond unpolished--it hardly looks better than a common pebble; but when the hand of the master rubs off the roughness, and forms the sides into a thousand brilliant surfaces, it is then that we acknowledge its worth, admire its beauty, and long to wear it in our bosoms.”
-- Jane Porter -
“That grief is the most durable which flows inward, and buries its streams with its fountain, in the depths of the heart.”
-- Jane Porter -
“In the career of female fame, there are few prizes to tie obtained which can vie with the obscure state of a beloved wife or a happy mother.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Magnanimity is above circumstance; and any virtue which depends on that is more of constitution than of principle.”
-- Jane Porter -
“There is nothing so clear-sighted and sensible as a noble mind in a low estate.”
-- Jane Porter -
“National antipathy is the basest, because the most illiberal and illiterate of all prejudices.”
-- Jane Porter -
“The only impregnable citadel of virtue is religion; for there is no bulwark of mere morality, which some temptation may not overtop or undermine, and destroy.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Beauty of form affects the mind, but then it must be understood that it is not the mere shell that we admire; we are attracted by the idea that this shell is only a beautiful case adjusted to the shape and value of a still more beautiful pearl within. The perfection of outward loveliness is the soul shining through its crystalline covering.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Where there is any good disposition, confidence begets faithfulness; but distrust, if it do not produce treachery; never fails to destroy every inclination to evince fidelity. Most people disdain to clear themselves from the accusations of mere suspicion.”
-- Jane Porter -
“A sincere acquaintance with ourselves teaches us humility; and from humility springs that benevolence which compassionates the transgressors we condemn, and prevents the punishments we inflict from themselves partaking of crime, in being rather the wreakings of revenge than the chastisements of virtue.”
-- Jane Porter -
“The fruition of what is unlawful must be followed by remorse. The core sticks in the throat after the apple is eaten, and the sated appetite loathes the interdicted pleasure for which innocence was bartered.”
-- Jane Porter -
“But the most annoying of all public reformers is the personal satirist. Though he may be considered by some few as a useful member of society, yet he is only ranked with the hangman, whom we tolerate because he executes the judgment we abhor to do ourselves, and avoid with a natural detestation of his office. The pen of the one and the cord of the other are inseparable in our minds.”
-- Jane Porter -
“When the cup of any sensual pleasure is drained to the bottom, there is always poison in the dregs.”
-- Jane Porter -
“However you disguise slavery, it is slavery still. Its chains, though wreathed with roses, not only fasten on the body but rivet on the mind.”
-- Jane Porter -
“A generous spirit is as eloquent in acknowledging benefits as it is bounteous in bestowing them ...”
-- Jane Porter -
“Goodness is equally hateful to the wicked, as vice is to the virtuous.”
-- Jane Porter -
“in his fairy dreams of war [Thaddeus] always made conquest the sure end of his battles ...”
-- Jane Porter -
“none are fit judges of greatness but those who are capable of it.”
-- Jane Porter -
“Virtue is despotic; life, reputation, every earthly good, must be surrendered at her voice. The law may seem hard, but it is the guardian of what it commands; and is the only sure defence of happiness.”
-- Jane Porter