"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."
"Charity, till then, had been conscious only of a vague self-disgust and a frightening physical distress; now, of a sudden, there came to her the grave surprise of motherhood."
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Source: Edith Wharton (2013). “Delphi Works of Edith Wharton (Illustrated)”, p.1841, Delphi Classics
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"The desire for symmetry, for balance, for rhythm in form as well as in sound, is one of the most inveterate of human instincts."
"I despair of the Republic! Such dreariness, such whining sallow women, such utter absence of the amenities, such crass food, crass manners, crass landscape!! What a horror it is for a whole nation to be developing without the sense of beauty, and eating bananas for breakfast."
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"One can remain alive ... if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity interested in big things and happy in small ways."
"If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time."