Quotessence
Home / Authors / Sarah Fielding
Sarah Fielding

Sarah Fielding Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsMindObjectsReaderMarriageMenHumansBearsLibertyPassion

Famous Sarah Fielding Quotes

“[H]ow do I pity those who (assuming the name of friends) surround themselves with maxims importing the wisdom of doubt and suspicion, 'til they impose on themselves that very hard task of laboring through life without ever knowing a human creature to whom they can make the proper use of language and freely speak the dictates of their hearts!”

HumansHeartHardUseValuesNamesSpeakLanguageFriendshipKnowingDoubtFriendsCreaturesTasksAssumingPitySurroundSuspicionMaximsUse Of Language
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“There is yet another kind of matrimonial dialect (which naturally succeeds this of talking at each other), which may very properlybe styled The Language Contradictory.... In the former, however plain the object of satire may be exhibited to the whole company, yet there always remains some little covering.... But in this last method, the defiance becomes more open and the impetuosity with which these contradictions are uttered (although the subjects of them are often of the most indifferent nature) evidently prove that they arise from passion.”

KindMayLittlesWholeLastsPassionLanguageCompanyTalkingMarriageSubjectsObjectsSucceedProveMethodRemainsAriseFormerContradictionSatireIntoleranceIndifferentContradictoryCoveringDefianceDialect
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“I know not whether it would be too bold an assertion to say that candor makes capacity.... But in order to try the truth of any observation relating to the mind, the easiest method is to illustrate it by outward objects. If, for instance, a man was to sweat and labor all the days of his life to fill a chest which was already full, the absurdity of his vain endeavor would be glaring. In the same manner, when the human mind is filled and stuffed with notions brought thither by fallacious inclinations, there is no room for truth to enter: candor being banished, passions alone bear the sway.”

IfsKnowsMenTryingMindHumansWould BeOrderPassionRoomsEducationObjectsBearsCapacityLaborMethodFilledNotionInstanceObservationVainHuman MindEndeavorChestsSweatAbsurdityInclinationAssertionCandor
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“Thoroughly to unfold the labyrinths of the human mind is an arduous task.... In order to dive into those recesses and lay them open to the reader in a striking and intelligible manner, 'tis necessary to assume a certain freedom in writing, not strictly perhaps within the limits prescribed by rules.”

WritingMindHumansCertainOrderReaderLimitsTasksLaysAssumingHuman MindLabyrinthRecess
Book:The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia
Create image

“Men look on knowledge which they learn--or might learn--from others as they do on the most beautiful structures which are not their own: in outward objects, they would rather behold their own hogsty than their neighbor's palace; and in mental ones, would prefer one grain of knowledge gained by their own observation to all the wisdom of a thousand Solomons.”

MenLooksMightBeautifulObjectsThousandEconomicsStructurePropertyNeighborObservationGrainPalacesSolomonKnowledge Gained
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“I had some short struggle in my mind whether I should resign my lover or my liberty, but this lasted not long. I found myself as free as air and could not bear the thought of putting myself in any man's power for life only from a present capricious inclination.”

MenShouldMindLongFoundWomenLibertyMarriageStruggleAirBearsLoversSexismInclinationCapriciousMy Lover
Book:The cry: a new dramatic fable : in two volumes
Create image

“There appears to be but two grand master passions or movers in the human mind, namely, love and pride. And what constitutes the beauty or deformity of a man's character is the choice he makes under which banner he determines to enlist himself. But there is a strong distinction between different degress in the same thing and a mixture of two contraries.”

MenMindHumansTwoDifferentSelfCharacterValuesChoicesPassionStrongMastersPrideDetermineContraryDistinctionHuman MindMixturesBannerDeformity
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“[F]or women, like tradesmen, draw in the injudicious to buy their goods by the high value they themselves set upon them.... They endeavor strongly to fix in the minds of their enamoratos their own high value, and then contrive as much as possible to make them believe that they have so many purchasers at hand that the goods--if they do not make haste--will all be gone.”

IfsMenMindBelieveHandsValuesMarriageGoneDrawsMen And WomenEconomicsGoodsEndeavorHastePurchasers
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“Little miss is taught by her mamma that she must never speak before she is spoken to. On this she sits bridling up her head, looking from one to the other, in hopes of being called to and addressed by the name of pretty miss.... But if this should not happen and no one should take any notice of her, she is ready to cry at the neglect. But should there be another miss in the room caressed and taken notice of whilst she is thus overlooked, it will be impossible for her to contain her tears, and blubbering is the word.”

IfsShouldLittlesHappensNamesSpeakRoomsEducationTakenImpossibleChildhoodMissingCryTearsTaughtReadyNeglectOverlooked
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“I believe no gentleman would like to have his family affairs neglected because his wife was filling her head with crotchets and pothooks, and who, because she understood a few scraps of Latin, valued that more than minding her needle or providing her husband's dinner.”

BelieveI BelieveMarriageWifeHusbandUnderstoodAffairDinnerGentlemanLatinSexismProvidingFillingNeglectedNeedlesScrap
Book:The Life and Works of Sarah Fielding
Create image

“I am none of those nonsensical fools that can whine and make romantic love--I leave that to younger brothers. Let my estate speakfor me.”

MarriageBrotherFoolEconomicsRomantic LoveEstatesCourtshipNonsensicalYounger Brother
Book:The Adventures of David Simple: Containing an Account of His Travels Through the Cities of London and Westminster in the Search of a Real Friend
Create image

“I often used to think myself in the case of the fox-hunter, who, when he had toiled and sweated all day in the chase as if some unheard-of blessing was to crown his success, finds at last all he has got by his labor is a stinking nauseous animal. But my condition was yet worse than his; for he leaves the loathsome wretch to be torn by his hounds, whilst I was obliged to fondle mine, and meanly pretend him to be the object of my love.”

IfsThinkingLastsUsedAnimalMarriageCasesConditionsObjectsMinesBlessingLaborHuntingCrownsFoxesTornHuntersObligedDisillusionmentUnheardHounds
Author:Sarah Fielding
Create image

“I was amongst the virtues like the great Turk in his seraglio of women, and I chose to dwell with that virtue which looked the fairest in my eyes and gave me at that season most pleasure. In short, I made wives of them: I first admired them, then made them my own property, and if they would not submit to my will, I again turned them off and divorced them.”

IfsFirstsMadeEyeMy OwnPleasureVirtueWifeSeasonsPropertyVanitySexismSubmitDivorced
Book:The cry: a new dramatic fable : in two volumes
Create image