Frances Burney

“Traveling is the ruin of all happiness! There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy.”

“What, what is the world? a dream within a dream--as we grow older, each step is an awakening.”

“The mind is the great deceiver of itself.”

“But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue?”

“A youthful mind is seldom totally free from ambition; to curb that, is the first step to contentment, since to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.”

“...remember, my dear Evelina, nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman: it is, at once, the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.”

“Sorrow is the lot of all, and pride and anger are the badges of imperfection.”

“To have some account of my thoughts, manners, acquaintance and actions... is the reason which induces me to keep a journal.”

“The resolutions of the most resolute are seldom proof against the inconsistencies of the heart.”

“Yet this, however, remember: if to pride and arrogance you add repetition and boasting, you will forfeit the good opinion of all your friends.”

“Scarcely ever have I seen a person look superior and amiable at the same time.”

“The world is a scene of constant vicissitude.”

“When you have leisure, you can't oblige yourself to be witty.”