Ann Radcliffe quotes:

1. “Fate sits on these dark battlements, and frowns;
And as the portals open to receive me,
Her voice, in sullen echoes, through the courts,
Tells of a nameless deed”.

[Ann Radcliffe  (1764 - 1823) British novelist The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794]

2. “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  (1764 - 1823) British novelist The Romance of the Forest, 179.]

3. “The sea, trembling with a long line of radiance, and showing in the clear distance the sails of vessels stealing in every direction along its surface”.

[Ann Radcliffe  (1764 - 1823) British novelist The Italian, 1797]

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• A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and of vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• 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, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• Employment is the surest antidote to sorrow.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• Happiness arises in a state of peace, not of tumult.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• I never trust people's assertions, I always judge of them by their actions.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• 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, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• If the weak hand, that has recorded this tale, has, by its scenes, beguiled the mourner of one hour of sorrow, or, by its moral, taught him to sustain it - the effort, however humble, has not been vain, nor is the writer unrewarded.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• It is dismal coming home, when there is nobody to welcome one!

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• One act of beneficence, one act of real usefulness, is worth all the abstract sentiment in the world. Sentiment is a disgrace, instead of an ornament, unless it lead us to good actions.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• 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, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• Such is the inconsistency of real love, that it is always awake to suspicion, however unreasonable; always requiring new assurances from the object of its interest.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• The passions are the seeds of vices as well as of virtues, from which either may spring, accordingly as they are nurtured. Unhappy they who have never been taught the art to govern them!

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• The refreshing pleasure from the first view of nature, after the pain of illness, and the confinement of a sick-chamber, is above the conceptions, as well as the descriptions, of those in health.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• The world ridicules a passion which it seldom feels; its scenes, and its interests, distract the mind, deprave the taste, corrupt the heart, and love cannot exist in a heart that has lost the meek dignity of innocence.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• There is some comfort in dying surrounded by one's children.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• There is some magic in wealth, which can thus make persons pay their court to it, when it does not even benefit themselves. How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty!

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• Though the vicious can sometimes pour affliction upon the good, their power is transient and their punishment certain; and that innocence, though oppressed by injustice, shall, supported by patience, finally triumph over misfortune!

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• 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, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• 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, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• What has a man's face to do with his character? Can a man of good character help having a disagreeable face?

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• When one can hear people moving, one does not so much mind, about one's fears.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

• When the mind has once begun to yield to the weakness of superstition, trifles impress it with the force of conviction.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764

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