Top 9 Quotes by Dorothy Osborne

Tis an admirable thing to see how some people will labour to find out terms that may obscure a plain sense, like a gentleman I knew, who would never say 'the weather grew cold,' but that 'winter begins to salute us.' I

Tis an admirable thing to see how some people will labour to find out terms that may obscure a plain sense, like a gentleman I knew, who would never say 'the weather grew cold,' but that 'winter begins to salute us.' I have no patience for such coxcombs.

Dorothy Osborne

Winter, Weather, People

To marry for love were no reproachful thing if we did not see that of ten thousand couples that do it, hardly one can be brought for an example that it may be done and not repented afterwards.

Dorothy Osborne

Marriage, Couple, Example

Dorothy Osborne (1903). “The Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple”

But 'tis a sad thing that all one's happiness is only that the world does not know you are miserable.

Dorothy Osborne

Doe, World, Miserable

Surfeits kill more than fasting does.

Dorothy Osborne

Fasting, Doe, Eating

Dorothy Osborne (1914). “The letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple”

Will the kindness of this letter excuse the shortness of it?

Dorothy Osborne

Kindness, Letters, Excuse

Dorothy Osborne, Edward Abbott Parry (2014). “Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652–54”, p.165, Cambridge University Press

What an age do we live in, when 'tis a miracle if in ten couples that are married, two of them live so as not to publish to the world that they cannot agree.

Dorothy Osborne

Marriage, Couple, Two

Dorothy Osborne, Edward Abbott Parry (2014). “Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652–54”, p.184, Cambridge University Press

I do not know that ever I desired anything earnestly in my life but 'twas denied me, and I am many times afraid to wish a thing merely lest my fortune should take that occasion to use me ill.

Dorothy Osborne

Fear, Wish, Use

Dorothy Osborne, Edward Abbott Parry (2014). “Letters from Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652–54”, p.49, Cambridge University Press