God was palpably present in the country, and the devil had gone with the world to town. - Thomas Hardy

Ah, no; the years, the years; Down their carved names the raindrop plows.

Work hard and be poor, do nothing and get more.

She might have seen that what had bowed her head so profoundly - the thought of the world's concern at her situation - was founded on illusion. She was not an existence, an experience, a passion, a structure of sensations, to anybody but herself. To all humankind besides, Tess was only a passing thought.