I wish the opera was every night. It is, of all entertainments, the sweetest and most delightful. Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul..

When young people are too rigidly sequestered from [the world], their lively and romantic imaginations paint it to them as a paradise of which they h….

No man is in love when he marries. He may have loved before; I have even heard he has sometimes loved after: but at the time never. There is somethin….

You have sensible women here [in England] but then, they are very devils--censorious, uncharitable, sarcastic--the women in Scotland have twice--thri….

We relate all our afflictions more frequently than we do our pleasures..

A little alarm now and then keeps life from stagnation..

Credulity is the sister of innocence..

To have some account of my thoughts, manners, acquaintance and actions, when the hour arrives in which time is more nimble than memory, is the reason….

Tis best to build no castles in the air..

To Nobody, then, will I write my Journal! since to Nobody can I be wholly unreserved, to Nobody can I reveal every thought, every wish of my heart, w….

Misery is a guest that we are glad to part with, however certain of her speedy return..

I am ashamed of confessing that I have nothing to confess..

O! how short a time does it take to put an end to a woman's liberty!.

To save the mind from preying inwardly upon itself, it must be encouraged to some outward pursuit. There is no other way to elude apathy, or escape d….

You must learn not only to judge but to act for yourself..

Those who wander in the world avowedly and purposely in pursuit of happiness, who view every scene of present joy with an eye to what may succeed, ce….

Travelling is the ruin of all happiness. There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy..

How little has situation to do with happiness. The happy individual uses their intelligence to realise things could be worse and therefore is gratefu….

Generosity without delicacy, like wit without judgment, generally gives as much pain as pleasure..

Nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman; it is at once the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things..

How truly does this journal contain my real and undisguised thoughts--I always write it according to the humour I am in, and if astranger was to thin….