Maria Edgeworth was an influential Anglo-Irish writer of the early 19th century. She is best known for her novel Ennui, which explores the lives of the aristocracy in Ireland during the period of British rule. Edgeworth's work is notable for its realistic portrayal of the social and political issues of her time, as well as for her strong female characters.
Simplicity of character is no hindrance to subtlety of intellect.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
Our judgments, like our watches, none go just alike, yet each believes his own.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
The two great movers of the human mind are the desire of good, and the fear of evil.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
Pride often mingles with the good actions we perform, as the dust that rises with the carriage wheels and spoils the passengers’ clothes.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
As vivacity is the gift of women, gravity is that of men.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported with the later.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
It is said that every man has his peculiar ambition, whether it be true or not, it is at least certain that ambition either finds or makes every man his enemy.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui
To be thrown upon one’s own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible.
Maria Edgeworth – Ennui