“ Distinction does not consist in the facile use of a contemptible set of conventions, but in being numbered among those who are true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report ”
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891). copy citation
| Author | Thomas Hardy |
|---|---|
| Source | Tess of the d'Urbervilles |
| Topic | honesty distinction convention |
| Date | 1891 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/110/110-h/110-h.htm |
Context
“she burst out, jumping up from her low stool as though appalled at his homage, and the fulness of her own joy thereat.
Clare, deeming the whole basis of her excitement to be that which was only the smaller part of it, said— «I won't have you speak like it, dear Tess! Distinction does not consist in the facile use of a contemptible set of conventions, but in being numbered among those who are true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report—as you are, my Tess.»
She struggled with the sob in her throat. How often had that string of excellences made her young heart ache in church of late years, and how strange that he should have cited them now.
«Why didn't you stay and love me when I—was sixteen; living with my little sisters and brothers, and you danced on the green?” source
Clare, deeming the whole basis of her excitement to be that which was only the smaller part of it, said— «I won't have you speak like it, dear Tess! Distinction does not consist in the facile use of a contemptible set of conventions, but in being numbered among those who are true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report—as you are, my Tess.»
She struggled with the sob in her throat. How often had that string of excellences made her young heart ache in church of late years, and how strange that he should have cited them now.
«Why didn't you stay and love me when I—was sixteen; living with my little sisters and brothers, and you danced on the green?” source
Meaning and analysis
