I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's … - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's novels at so high a rate, which seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, imprisoned in their wretched conventions of English society, without genius, wit, or knowledge of the world. Never was life so pinched and narrow. ... All that interests in any character [is this]: has he (or she) the money to marry with? ... Suicide is more respectable.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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jane-austen

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About Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1803 – 27 April 1882) was an American philosopher, essayist, and poet.

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Also Known As

Alternative Names: R. W. Emerson • Waldo Emerson

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Henry David Thoreau Michel de Montaigne Friedrich Nietzsche Thomas Carlyle

Additional quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.

That which we persist on doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the task has changed , but our ability to do has increased.

Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine, are weak dilutions. The surest poison is time.

I am at a loss to understand why people hold Miss Austen's novels at so high a rate, which seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, … - Ralph Waldo Emerson

About Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Additional quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson