Edith Wharton

Name: The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6
Author: Edith Wharton

The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

Summary

“The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6”, published in 1901, is a work by Edith Wharton. It explores elements such as Fulvia, clergy and cloister.

Quotes from The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (Edith Wharton)

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ Better, perhaps, than Fulvia, he knew what ailed them both. Happiness had come to them, but it had come too late; it had come tinged with disloyalty to their early ideals; it had come when delay and disillusionment had imperceptibly weakened the springs of passion. For it is the saddest thing about sorrow that it deadens the capacity for happiness; and to Fulvia and Odo the joy they had renounced had returned with an exile's alien face. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ According to the standards of her day there was no dishonour to a woman in being the mistress of a man whose rank forbade his marrying her: the dishonour lay in the conduct which had come to be associated with such relations. Under the old dispensation the influence of the prince's mistress had stood for the last excesses of moral and political corruption; why might it not, under the new law, come to represent as unlimited a power for good?
So love, the casuist, argued; and during those first months, when happiness seemed at last its own justification, Fulvia lived in every fibre. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ After a moment he began again: "Can you not see that any reform which aims at reducing the power of the clergy must be more easily and successfully carried out if they can be induced to take part in it? That, in short, we need them at this moment as we have never needed them before? The example of France ought at least to show you that."
"The example of France shows me that, to gain a point in such a struggle, any means must be used! In France, as you say, the clergy were with the people--here they are against them. Where persuasion fails coercion must be used!" ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ Fulvia was of those who require that their lives shall be an affirmation of themselves; and the lack of inner harmony drove her to seek some outward expression of her ideals. She threw herself with renewed passion into the political struggle. The best, the only justification of her power, was to use it boldly, openly, for the good of the people. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ The librarian was in sympathy with any measures tending to relieve the condition of the peasantry; yet he was almost as strongly opposed as Trescorre to any reproduction of the Tuscan constitution.
"He is afraid!" broke from Fulvia. She admired and respected Crescenti, yet she had never fully trusted him. The taint of ecclesiasticism was on him.
Odo smiled. "He has never been afraid of facing the charge of Jansenism," he replied. "All his life he has stood in open opposition to the Church party."
"It is one thing to criticise their dogmas, another to attack their privileges. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ She was speaking more urgently. "Surely," she said, "the noblest use a man can make of his own freedom is to set others free. My father said it was the only justification of kingship."
He glanced at her half-sadly. "Do you still fancy that kings are free? I am bound hand and foot." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ It was her dream to build up a seat of learning which should attract students from all parts of Italy; and though many young men of good family had withdrawn from the classes when the Barnabites were dispossessed, she was confident that they would soon be replaced by scholars from other states. She was resolved to identify herself openly with the educational reform which seemed to her one of the most important steps toward civic emancipation; and she had therefore acceded to the request of the faculty that, on receiving her degree, she should sustain a thesis before the University. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ We are of the people and we speak for the people. Who are your other counsellors? Priests and noblemen! It is natural enough that they should wish to make their side of the question heard. Listen to them, if you will--conciliate them, if you can! We need all the allies we can win. Only do not fancy they are really speaking for the people. Do not think it is the people's voice you hear. The people do not ask you to weigh this claim against that, to look too curiously into the defects and merits of every clause in their charter. All they ask is that the charter should be given them! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ The room in which she sat looked out on a stone-flagged cloister enclosing a plot of ground planted with yews; and at the farther end of this cloister a door communicated by a covered way with the ducal gardens. The house had formed a part of the convent of the Perpetual Adoration, which had been sold by the nuns when they moved to the new buildings the late Duke had given them. A portion had been torn down to make way for the Marquess of Cerveno's palace, and in the remaining fragment, a low building wedged between high walls, Fulvia had found a lodging. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Edith Wharton, The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (1901)

“ That you have given your enemies time to work on their credulity. The longer you delay the more opposition you will encounter. Father Ignazio would rather destroy the state than let it be saved by any hand but his. ”

Edith Wharton

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Quotes from The Valley of Decision — Book IV, Chapter 6 (Edith Wharton)

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