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Quote by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Work

The Making of a Marchioness

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Author

Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett

Frances Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright known for her rich imagination and delicate emotional descriptions. Her works spanned various genres including drama, novels, and poetry, with her most famous works being 'Little Women' and 'The Secret Garden'. Born on November 24, 1849, she passed away on October 29, 1924. more

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“He was not a monster, she said. People say he was a monster, but he was not one. What could she have been thinking about? Not much, I guess; not back then, not at the time. She was thinking about how not to think. The times were abnormal. She took pride in her appearance. She did not believe he was a monster. He was not a monster, to her. Probably he had some endearing trait: he whistled, off key, in the shower, he had a yen for truffles, he called his dog Liebchen and made it sit up for little pieces of raw steak. How easy it is to invent a humanity, for anyone at all. What an available temptation. A big child, she would have said to herself. Her heart would have melted, she'd have smoothed the hair back from his forehead, kissed him on the ear, and not just to get something out of him either. The instinct to soothe, to make it better. There there, she'd say, as he woke from a nightmare. Things are so hard for you. All this she would have believed, because otherwise how could she have kept on living? She was very ordinary, under that beauty. She believed in decency, she was nice to the Jewish maid, or nice enough, nicer than she needed to be.”