Jane Porter Quotes

Happiness is not perfected until it is shared.

Be shocking, be daring, be bold, be passionate.

Happiness is a sunbeam which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray; nay, when it strikes on a kindred heart, like the converged light on a mirror, it reflects itself with redoubled brightness. It is not perfected till it is shared.

The best manner of avenging ourselves is by not resembling him who has injured us.

A generous spirit is as eloquent in acknowledging benefits as it is bounteous in bestowing them.

Imparting knowledge is only lighting other men's candles at our lamp without depriving ourselves of any flame.

Don't live to please others. Don't think everyone else knows what's right or true. Listen to yourself, and be true to yourself. That way, no matter what else happens in life, you will always have your self-respect.

none are fit judges of greatness but those who are capable of it.

In his fairy dreams of war [Thaddeus] always made conquest the sure end of his battles.

The only impregnable citadel of virtue is religion; for there is no bulwark of mere morality, which some temptation may not overtop or undermine, and destroy.

It is not designed that the road should be made too smooth for us here upon earth.

The fruition of what is unlawful must be followed by remorse. The core sticks in the throat after the apple is eaten, and the sated appetite loathes the interdicted pleasure for which innocence was bartered.

Self-love leads men of narrow minds to measure all mankind by their own capacity.

Yet happiness isn't something you chase, it's something you are. It's something you think, it's something you believe.

That grief is the most durable which flows inward, and buries its streams with its fountain, in the depths of the heart.

People do not always understand the motives of sublime conduct, and when they are astonished they are very apt to think they ought to be alarmed The truth is none are fit judges of greatness but those who are capable of it.

The best manner of avenging ourselves is by not resembling him who injured us; and it is hardly possible for one man to be more unlike another than he that forbears to avenge himself of wrong is to him who did the wrong.

A sincere acquaintance with ourselves teaches us humility; and from humility springs that benevolence which compassionates the transgressors we condemn, and prevents the punishments we inflict from themselves partaking of crime, in being rather the wreakings of revenge than the chastisements of virtue.

Bright was the summer of 1296. The war which had desolated Scotland was then at an end.

Dr. Johnson has said that the chief glory of a country arises from its authors. But then that is only as they are oracles of wisdom; unless they teach virtue, they are more worthy of a halter than of the laurel.

If cowardice were not so completely a coward as to be unable to look steadily upon the effects of courage, he would find that there is no refuge so sure as dauntless valor.

The mob is a sort of bear; while your ring is through its nose, it will even dance under your cudgel; but should the ring slip, and you lose your hold, the brute will turn and rend you.

Magnanimity is above circumstance; and any virtue which depends on that is more of constitution than of principle.

We all know that a lie needs no other grounds, than the invention of the liar; and to take for granted as truth, all that is alleged against the fame of others, is a species of credulity, that men would blush at on any other subject.

Virtue, without the graces, is like a rich diamond unpolished--it hardly looks better than a common pebble; but when the hand of the master rubs off the roughness, and forms the sides into a thousand brilliant surfaces, it is then that we acknowledge its worth, admire its beauty, and long to wear it in our bosoms.