Frances Burney

"Hope is sometimes born of despair, yet it never wholly dies."

"I have been so very ill that the doctors feared for my life."

"The world is too much with us; let us withdraw to our domestic felicity."

"There is no road to true honour but through the practice of virtue."

"I cannot endure flattery; it is so very unnecessary."

"The moment we feel hurt, we are more cautious in our conduct."

"Women, I believe, are too often wasted upon men."

"To get through life without any accomplishment is a sort of ignominy."

"I am convinced that there is no greater happiness than to be united with those we love."

"The public is not always right, nor is the individual always wrong."

"Anxiety and carefulness are the disease of the mind."

"I would prefer a country life, with books and moral discourse."

"Talent is something, but perseverance is everything."

"The mind requires constant nourishment and employment."

"I find that the most happy marriages are those where neither party is burdened by great expectations."

"To live without feeling is to live without purpose."

"Gratitude is one of the most useful of all virtues."

"I have an absolute dread of writing to strangers."

"Nothing is so disagreeable to a woman as to be thought frivolous."

"The pen, being an instrument of communication, has great power."

"I am convinced that the heart is superior to the head."

"There is a peculiar charm in conversing with one's equals in mind."

"I would rather be distinguished by one act of true courage than by many of mere courtesy."

"The greatest wealth is contentment of the mind."

"I have always believed that literature has the power to change lives."

"To be perfectly natural is a kind of cultivation."

"I find myself always desirous of being useful to others."

"The most fascinating subject is human nature in all its complexity."

"I am not fond of those who are perpetually complaining."

"Time is the great healer, though we feel it works too slowly."