I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.
Jane AustenRead
You think me foolish to call instruction a torment, but if you had been as much used as myself to hear poor little children first learning their letters and then learning to spell, if you had ever seen how stupid they can be for a whole morning together, and how tired my poor mother is at the end of it, as I am in the habit of seeing almost every day of my life at home, you would allow that to torment and to instruct might sometimes be used as synonymous words.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Instruction can be frustrating and exhausting, especially when teaching young children.
In this quote, Jane Austen reflects on the challenges and frustrations faced by educators, particularly parents, when teaching young children the basics of reading and writing. She describes the laborious process of instruction, highlighting how it can feel torturous, not just for the learners but for the teachers as well. This candid observation evokes empathy for teachers and underscores the often overlooked difficulties involved in the educational process.
Themes
InstructionEducationFrustrationTeachingChildren
In practice
Example use cases
During a parent-teacher meeting, a teacher might use this quote to express the challenges of classroom instruction.
More from Jane Austen
All quotes →Nobody could catch cold by the sea; nobody wanted appetite by the sea; nobody wanted spirits; nobody wanted strength. Sea air was healing, softening, relaxing - fortifying and bracing - seemingly just as was wanted - sometimes one, sometimes the other. If the sea breeze failed, the seabath was the certain corrective; and where bathing disagreed, the sea air alone was evidently designed by nature for the cure.
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He certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person.
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You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.
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She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! Alas! She must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.
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