There is not on earth a more merciless exactor of love from others than a thoroughly selfish woman
 Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). copy citation

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Author Harriet Beecher Stowe
Source Uncle Tom's Cabin
Topic love women
Date 1852
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/203/203-h/203-h.htm

Context

“and when she entered life, beautiful, accomplished, and an heiress, she had, of course, all the eligibles and non-eligibles of the other sex sighing at her feet, and she had no doubt that Augustine was a most fortunate man in having obtained her. It is a great mistake to suppose that a woman with no heart will be an easy creditor in the exchange of affection. There is not on earth a more merciless exactor of love from others than a thoroughly selfish woman; and the more unlovely she grows, the more jealously and scrupulously she exacts love, to the uttermost farthing. When, therefore, St. Clare began to drop off those gallantries and small attentions which flowed at first through the habitude of courtship, he found his sultana no way ready to resign her slave;” source