“ To come with a well-informed mind is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. ”
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817). copy citation
Author | Jane Austen |
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Source | Northanger Abbey |
Topic | vanity mind |
Date | 1817 |
Language | English |
Reference | |
Note | |
Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/121/121-h/121-h.htm |
Context
“It seemed as if a good view were no longer to be taken from the top of an high hill, and that a clear blue sky was no longer a proof of a fine day. She was heartily ashamed of her ignorance. A misplaced shame. Where people wish to attach, they should always be ignorant. To come with a well-informed mind is to come with an inability of administering to the vanity of others, which a sensible person would always wish to avoid. A woman especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.
The advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth by the capital pen of a sister author;”
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