John Oliver Hobbes

“ All the teaching of the present day seems to assume that no man or woman ever yet accomplished a purpose, or thoroughly believed in anything or anybody!" It is so delightful to be young, and long-winded, and able to believe, at least, in oneself! "A hero, nowadays," he went on, "need not fight: he has only to say he would like to fight if he could!"
"You have so much moral courage," said Sophia, "and I have none!" ”

“ I will, now that you have told me—I may."
"Of course you may" said Sophia, "because my knowledge of you assures me that you will not say anything—silly. I mean something which ought not to be said—or written."
"Friendship," said De Boys—"perfect friendship casteth out fear. Between friends there ought to be no dread of giving offence."
"N—no!" said Sophia; "but at the same time we must not think that our friends are the only people we can treat rudely, and with unkindness."
"Unkindness!" said De Boys. ”

“ And, I take it, a woman who did not accept life in its vanity, would find no possible pleasure in the adornment of her own person: she would simply regard it as a duty which she owed to society—one which, I think, would come under the head of honouring the king!"
Sophia felt her enthusiasm rising towards sainthood: De Boys had a perfectly charming view of moral obligations. ”

“ Professor Mauden and Lady Jane Mauden did not, in his opinion, sound well. By a confusion of ideas, too, Jane Shannon seemed the shadow and Sophia Jenyns the reality, and while he composed his pretty speeches to Jane, he rehearsed them (with appropriate expression) to Sophia. It must be remembered, he was quite unaware that the actress was Wrath's wife.
Wrath had begun his Madonna [3] , and when he was not painting, he would sit in rapturous thought. The Madonna, too, not to speak irreverently, had Margaret's nose—and Sophia's nose had a far finer shape than Lady Hyde-Bassett's. ”

“ There is sublime beauty, no doubt, in the mere expression of a pure-minded being: but when a fine spirit is set in fair material, and she can flavour her chaste conversation with Attic salt, her influence must undoubtedly cover a larger field than if she looked dowdy and talked banalities. ”

“ I do not see why we cannot go back to—to the sort of existence—I mean the idyllic and perfect state of Adam and Eve before the Fall. Merely viewed as a philosophical experiment it might at least be attempted. If it proved successful, it would encourage others——"
"But if it failed——" said Sophia.
He cleared his throat. "You must let me translate for you some tremendous passages from the 'Phaedrus,'" [5] he replied. "Plato deals with the whole question as only a poet can—for he was a poet. ”

“ No image permeates Christian art as the image of the Madonna and child.While Mary may be referred to as "the Madonna" in other contexts, in art the term is applied specifically to an artwork in which Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, is the focus, and central figure of the picture. Mary and the infant Jesus may be surrounded by adoring angels or worshipping saints. ”

“ Anything more chilling to lover-like aspirations is not to be imagined. Long years afterwards the echo of that motherly "My dear De Boys!" could bring an east wind on the warmest day.
"It is my turn," he said, hotly, "to be treated like a buffoon when I am serious!"
"Don't say that," said Sophia ”

“ The passion that left the world to lose itself in the sky.'
Why give so much consolation to those who have failed to realize their ideals—who have merely aspired, and utter no word of praise to those who have actually attained to Higher Things? ”

“ Along with her sister Regan, Goneril is considered a villain, obsessed with power and overthrowing her elderly father as ruler of the kingdom of Britain. Her aggressiveness is a rare trait for a female character in Elizabethan literature. ”

“ Sophia thought, that although he was a better conversationalist than Wrath he did not wear so well: two hours seemed to exhaust the fund of his ideas. Now Wrath could maintain an interesting silence from year's end to year's end.
"Oh! the difference of man and man!"
Gentler ladies than Goneril [6] have had occasion to utter the same lamentation.
Notes ↑ Unreason: thoughtlessness, recklessness, or thoughtless or reckless behaviour; irrational thing: a thoughtless or reckless act or idea.↑ See Romanticism↑ Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. ”