“ A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible. Thomas Hardy
“ A man's body is as the shell, or the tablet, of his soul, as he is reserved or ingenuous, overflowing or self-contained. Thomas Hardy
“ You temptress,Tess; you dear damned witch of Babylon- I could not resist you as soon as I met you again. Thomas Hardy
“ When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has never had any strength to throw away. Thomas Hardy
“ What is it, Angel? she said, starting up. Have they come for me?Yes, dearest, he said. They have come.It is as it should be, she murmured. Angel, I am almost glad—yes, glad! This happiness could not h… Thomas Hardy
“ They spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty phrases and warm expressions being probably unnecessary between such tried friends. Thomas Hardy
“ Oak had nothing finished and ready to say as yet, and not being able to frame love phrases which end where they begin; passionate tales——Full of sound and fury—signifying nothing—he said no word at al… Thomas Hardy
“ It was quite impossible, he found, to ask to be delivered from temptation when your heart’s desire was to be tempted unto seventy times seven. Thomas Hardy
“ It may have been observed that there is no regular path for getting outof love as there is for getting in. Some people look upon marriage as ashort cut that way, but it has been known to fail. Thomas Hardy
“ It is rarely that the pleasures of the imagination will compensate for the pain of sleeplessness, Thomas Hardy
“ I. At TeaTHE kettle descants in a cosy drone,And the young wife looks in her husband's face,And then in her guest's, and shows in her ownHer sense that she fills an envied place;And the visiting lady… Thomas Hardy
“ I can't bear that they, and everybody, should think people wicked because they may have chosen to live their own way! Thomas Hardy
“ Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tess's being; it enveloped her as a photosphere, irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past sorrows, keeping back the gloomy spectres that would… Thomas Hardy
“ Half an hour afterwards Dick emerged from the inn, and if Fancy's lips had been real cherries, probably Dick's would have appeared deeply stained. Thomas Hardy
“ Bathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant women love when they abandon their self-reliance. When a strong woman recklessly throws away her strength she is worse than a weak woman who has… Thomas Hardy
“ The figure near at hand suffers on such occasions, because it shows up its sorriness without shade; while vague figures afar off are honored, in that their distance makes artistic virtues of their sta… Thomas Hardy
“ There is a good deal too strange to be believed nothing is too strange to have happened. Thomas Hardy
