Some of the most passionately erotic poets have been the most self-contained in their daily lives. - Thomas Hardy

There is a loquacity that tells nothing, which was Bathsheba's; and there is a silence which says much: that was Gabriel's.

The chief pleasure connected with asking an opinion lies in not adopting it.

Clare knew that she loved him — every curve of her form showed that — but he did not know at that time the full depth of her devotion, its single-mindedness, its meekness; what long-suffering it guaranteed, what honesty, what endurance, what good faith.