Wortley Quotes

Tis a sort of duty to be rich, that it may be in one's power to do good, riches being another word for power. — Mary Wortley Montagu

The one thing that reconciles me to the fact of being a woman is the reflection that it delivers me from the necessity of being married to one. — Mary Wortley Montagu

We should ask, not who is the most learned, but who is the best learned. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I believe more follies are committed out of complaisance to the world, than in following our own inclinations. — Mary Wortley Montagu

It has all been most interesting. — Mary Wortley Montagu

But the fruit that can fall without shaking Indeed is too mellow for me. — Mary Wortley Montagu

As marriage produces children, so children produce care and disputes; and wrangling. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Whatever is clearly expressed is well wrote. — Mary Wortley Montagu

It goes far towards reconciling me to being a woman, when I reflect that I am thus in no danger of ever marrying one. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Nature is seldom in the wrong, custom always. — Mary Wortley Montagu

To be reasonable one should never complain but when one hopes redress. — Mary Wortley Montagu

There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I am afraid we are little better than straws upon the water; we may flatter ourselves that we swim, when the current carries us along. — Mary Wortley Montagu

You can be pleased with nothing if you are not pleased with yourself. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I prefer liberty to chains of diamonds. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I am in perfect health, and hear it said I look better than ever I did in my life, which is one of those lies one is always glad to hear. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Life is too short for a long story. — Mary Wortley Montagu

In short I will part with anything for you but you. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I despise the pleasure of pleasing people that I despise.
— Mary Wortley Montagu

People wish their enemies dead - but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone! — Mary Wortley Montagu

Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide,- In part she is to blame that has been tried: He comes too near that comes to be denied. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Begin nothing without considering what the end may be. — Mary Wortley Montagu

True knowledge consists in knowing things, not words. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I have often observ'd the loudest Laughers to be the dullest Fellows in the Company. — Mary Wortley Montagu

People never write calmly but when they write indifferently. — Mary Wortley Montagu

A woman, till five-and-thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly make no noise in the world till about forty. — Mary Wortley Montagu

General notions are generally wrong. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Lord Bacon makes beauty to consist of grace and motion. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Copiousness of words, however ranged, is always false eloquence, though it will ever impose on some sort of understandings. — Mary Wortley Montagu

If it were the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly observed. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Miserable is the fate of writers: if they are agreeable, they are offensive; and if dull, they starve. — Mary Wortley Montagu

My chief study all my life has been to lighten misfortunes and multiply pleasures, as far as human nature can. — Mary Wortley Montagu

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. — Mary Wortley Montagu

People are never so near playing the fool as when they think themselves wise. — Mary Wortley Montagu

And we meet, with champagne and a chicken, at last. — Mary Wortley Montagu

My health is so often impaired that I begin to be as weary of it as mending old lace; when it is patched in one place, it breaks out in another. — Mary Wortley Montagu

One can never outlive one's vanity. — Mary Wortley Montagu

To always be loved one must ever be agreeable. — Mary Wortley Montagu

The ultimate end of your education was to make you a good wife. — Mary Wortley Montagu

The knowledge of numbers is one of the chief distinctions between us and the brutes. — Mary Wortley Montagu

The most romantic region of every country is that where the mountains unite themselves with the plains or lowlands. — Mary Wortley Montagu

It's all been very interesting. — Mary Wortley Montagu

While conscience is our friend, all is at peace; however once it is offended, farewell to a tranquil mind. — Mary Wortley Montagu

No modest man ever did or ever will make a fortune. — Mary Wortley Montagu

We are no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes prisoner the knave of hearts. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Remember my unalterable maxim, When we love, we always have something to say. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Civility costs nothing and buys everything — Mary Wortley Montagu

Only a mother knows a mother's fondness. — Mary Wortley Montagu

A man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable is generally proud of those that are shameful and silly. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Forgive what you can't excuse ... — Mary Wortley Montagu

Gardening is certainly the next amusement to reading. — Mary Wortley Montagu

It was formerly a terrifying view to me that I should one day be an old woman. I now find that Nature has provided pleasures for every state. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen. — Mary Wortley Montagu

We are apt to consider Shakespeare only as a poet; but he was certainly one of the greatest moral philosophers that ever lived. — Mary Wortley Montagu

There can be no situation in life in which the conversation of my dear sister will not administer some comfort to me. — Mary Wortley Montagu

As I approach a second childhood, I endeavor to enter into the pleasures of it. — Mary Wortley Montagu

One would suffer a great deal to be happy. — Mary Wortley Montagu

A face is too slight a foundation for happiness. — Mary Wortley Montagu

I give myself sometimes admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Men are vile inconstant toads. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet; In short, my deary, kiss me, and be quiet. — Mary Wortley Montagu

Knowing too much is very apt to make us troublesome to other people — Mary Wortley Montagu