Ann Radcliffe Udolpho Quotes

Virtue and taste are nearly the same, for virtue is little more than active taste, and the most delicate affections of each combine in real love. ~ Ann Radcliffe

It is dismal coming home, when there is nobody to welcome one! ~ Ann Radcliffe

And since, in our passage through this world, painful circumstances occur more frequently than pleasing ones, and since our sense of evil is, I fear, more acute than our sense of good, we become the victims of our feelings, unless we can in some degree command them. ~ Ann Radcliffe

I tasted too what was called the sweet of revenge - but it was transient, it expired even with the object, that provoked it. ~ Ann Radcliffe

But the obsessional work of cutting and pasting also enacts, in the most literal way possible, the generic annexation of the poetic by the novelistic. When ~ Ann Radcliffe

There are some few instances in which it is virtuous to disobey. ~ Ann Radcliffe

But St. Aubert had too much good sense to prefer a charm to a virtue ... ~ Ann Radcliffe

Can this be in human nature! - Can such horrible perversion of right be permitted! Can man, who calls himself endowed with reason, and immeasurably superior to every other created being, argue himself into the commission of such horrible folly, such inveterate cruelty, as exceeds all the acts of the most irrational and ferocious brute. Brutes do not deliberately slaughter their species; it remains for man only, man, proud of his prerogative of reason, and boasting of his sense of justice, to unite the most terrible extremes of folly and wickedness! ~ Ann Radcliffe

As she mused upon the book before her, she involuntarily exclaimed, 'Are these, indeed, the passages, that have so often given me exquisite delight? Where did the charm exist? - Was it in my mind, or in the imagination of the poet? It lived in each,' said she, pausing. 'But the fire of the poet is vain, if the mind of his reader is not tempered like his own, however it may be inferior to his in power. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Poverty cannot deprive us of many consolations. It cannot rob us of the affection we have for each other, or degrade us in our own opinion, of in that of any person, whose opinion we ought to value. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Emily gazed with melancholy awe upon the castle, which she understood to be Montoni's; for, though it was now lighted up by the setting sun, the gothic greatness of its features, and its mouldering walls of dark grey stone, rendered it a gloomy and sublime object. As she gazed, the light died away on its walls, leaving a melancholy purple tint, which spread deeper and deeper, as the thin vapour crept up the mountain, while the battlements above were still tipped with splendour. From those, too, the rays soon faded, and the whole edifice was invested with the solemn duskiness of evening. Silent, lonely, and sublime, it seemed to stand the sovereign of the scene, and to frown defiance on all, who dared to invade its solitary reign. As the twilight deepened, its features became more awful in obscurity, and Emily continued to gaze, till its clustering towers were alone seen, rising over the tops of the woods, beneath whose thick shade the carriages soon after began to ascend. ~ Ann Radcliffe

It was new to Emily to part with any person, with whom she was connected, without feeling of regret; the moment, however, in which she took leave of M. and Madame Quesnel, was, perhaps, the only satisfactory one she had known in their presence. ~ Ann Radcliffe

(speaking of Ann Radcliffe) A work of art worthy of the name is one which gives us back the freshness of the emotions of childhood. ~ Andre Breton

There is something in the ardour and ingenousness of youth, which is particularly pleasing to the contemplation of an old man, if his feelings have not been entirely corroded by the world. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Conquer such whims, and endeavor to strengthen your mind. No existence is more contemptible than that, which is embittered by fear. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Groves of orange and lemon perfumed the air, their ripe fruit glowing among the foliage; while, sloping to the plains, extensive vineyards spread their treasures. Beyond these, woods and pastures, and mingled towns and hamlets stretched towards the sea, on whose bright surface gleamed many a distant sail; while, over the whole scene was diffused the purple glow of evening. ~ Ann Radcliffe

She knew nothing of the conduct of a mind, that fears to trust its own powers; which, possessing a nice judgment, and inclining to believe, that every other person perceives still more critically, fears to commit itself to censure, and seeks shelter in the obscurity of silence. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Employment is the surest antidote to sorrow. ~ Ann Radcliffe

How short a period often reverses the character of our sentiments, rendering that which yesterday we despised, today desirable. ~ Ann Radcliffe

...but I desire i may no further be harassed, and i recommend it to you to retire to your chamber, and to endeavour to adopt a more retional conduct, than that yielding to fancies, and to a sensibility, which, to call it by the gentlest name, is only a weakness. ~ Ann Radcliffe

A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness. Store it with ideas, teach it the pleasure of thinking; and the temptations of the world without, will be counteracted by the gratifications derived from the world within. ~ Ann Radcliffe

What are riches - grandeur - health itself, to the luxury of a pure conscience, the health of the soul; - and what the sufferings of poverty, disappointment, despair - to the anguish of an afflicted one! ~ Ann Radcliffe

At first a small line of inconceivable splendour emerged on the horizon, which, quickly expanding, the sun appeared in all of his glory, unveiling the whole face of nature, vivifying every colour of the landscape, and sprinkling the dewy earth with glittering light. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Fate sits on these dark battlements and frowns, And as the portal opens to receive me, A voice in hollow murmurs through the courts Tells of a nameless deed. ~ Ann Radcliffe

The moon now drew a faint light over their path, and, soon after, enabled them to distinguish some towers rising above the tops of the woods. ~ Ann Radcliffe

How despicable is that humanity, which can be contented to pity, where it might assuage! ~ Ann Radcliffe

She was tranquil, but it was with the quietness of exhausted grief, not of resignation; and she looked back upon the past, and awaited the future, with a kind of out-breathed despair. ~ Ann Radcliffe

To discover depravity in those whom we have loved, is one of the most exquisite tortures to a virtuous mind, and the conviction is often rejected before it is finally admitted. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Never will I give my hand where my heart does not accompany it. ~ Ann Radcliffe

One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world. ~ Ann Radcliffe

Why all this terror?' said he, in a tremulous voice. 'Hear me, Emily: I come not to alarm you; no, by Heaven! I love you too well- too well for my own peace. ~ Ann Radcliffe