A novel is an impression, not an argument; and there the matter must rest. - Thomas Hardy

A novel is an impression, not an argument.

And at home by the fire, whenever you look up there I shall be — and whenever I look up, there will be you.
-Gabriel Oak

All the while she wondered if any strange good thing might come of her being in her ancestral land; and some spirit within her rose automatically as the sap in the twigs. It was unexpected youth, surging up anew after its temporary check, and bringing with it hope, and the invincible instinct towards self-delight.

I may do some good before I am dead — be a sort of success as a frightful example of what not to do; and so illustrate a moral story.