"People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people's minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"I choose to believe that I owe my very
life to you--ay--smile, and think it an exaggeration if you will.
I believe it, because it adds a value to that life to think--oh,
Miss Hale!' continued he, lowering his voice to such a tender
intensity of passion that she shivered and trembled before him,
'to think circumstance so wrought, that whenever I exult in
existence henceforward, I may say to myself, "All this gladness
in life, all honest pride in doing my work in the world, all this
keen sense of being, I owe to her!" And it doubles the gladness,
it makes the pride glow, it sharpens the sense of existence till
I hardly know if it is pain or pleasure, to think that I owe it
to one--nay, you must, you shall hear'--said he, stepping
forwards with stern determination--'to one whom I love, as I do
not believe man ever loved woman before.' He held her hand tight
in his. He panted as he listened for what should come. "
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"I thought, perhaps you might have had something to say, but I see we are nothing to each other. If you're quite convinced that any foolish passion on my part is entirely over, I will wish you good afternoon.'

'What can he mean?' thought Margaret -- 'what could he mean by speaking so, as if I were always thinking that he cared for me, when I know he does not; he cannot. ... But I won't care for him. I surely am mistress enough of myself to control this wild, strange, miserable feeling, which tempted me even to betray my own dear Frederick, so that I might but regain his good opinion -- the good opinion of a man who takes such pains to tell me that I am nothing to him. Come! poor little heart! be cheery and brave. We'll be a great deal to one another, if we are thrown off and left desolate."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"'Oh, Mr. Thornton, I am not good enough!'

'Not good enough! Don't mock my own deep feeling of unworthiness.'"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

""Out of the way! We are in the throes of an exceptional emergency! This is no occassion for sport- there is lace at stake!" Ms. Pole, Cranford"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Cranford)

"But suppose it was truth double strong, it were no truth to me if I couldna take it in. I daresay there's truth in yon Latin book on your shelves; but it's gibberish and no truth to me, unless I know the meaning o' the words."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"" I say Gibson, we're old friends, and you're a fool if you take anything I say as an offense. Madam your wife and I didn't hit it off the only time I ever saw her. I won't say she was silly, but I think one of us was silly, and it wasn't me!""
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters)

"But the cloud never comes in that quarter of the horizon
from which we watch for it."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"One word more. You look as if you thought it tainted you to be
loved by me. You cannot avoid it. Nay, I, if I would, cannot
cleanse you from it. But I would not, if I could. I have never
loved any woman before: my life has been too busy, my thoughts
too much absorbed with other things. Now I love, and will love.
But do not be afraid of too much expression on my part."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"There is nothing like wounded affection for giving poignancy to anger."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters)

"Oh! That look of love!' continued he, between his teeth, as he bolted himself in his own private room. And that cursed lie; which showed some terrible shame in the background, to be kept from the light in wich she lived perpetually! Oh, Margaret, Margaret! Mother how you have tortured me! Oh! Margaret could you have not of loved me ? I am but uncouth and hard, But I would never have led you into any falsehood for me."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"Margaret was not a ready lover, but where she loved she loved passionately, and with no small degree of jealousy. "
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"All this gladness in life, all honest pride in doing my work in the world, all this keen sense of being, I owe to her! And it doubles the gladness, it makes the pride glow, it sharpens the sense of existence till I hardly know if its pain or pleasure, to think that I owe it to one - nay, you must, you shall hear - to whom I love, as I do not believe man ever loved woman before."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"'The French girls would tell you, to believe that you were pretty would make you so.'
"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters)

"A wise parent humors the desire for independent action, so as to become the friend and advisor when his absolute rule shall cease."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"“I do try to say, God’s will be done, sir,” said the Squire, looking up at Mr. Gibson for the first time, and speaking with more life in his voice; “but it’s harder to be resigned than happy people think.” "
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters)

"But the future must be met, however stern and iron it be. "
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"How easy it is to judge rightly after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly.""
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"'He is my first olive: let me make a face while I swallow it.'"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (North and South)

"What could he mean by speaking so, as if I were always thinking that he cared for me, when I know he does not; he cannot. ... But I won't care for him. I surely am mistress enough of myself to control this wild, strange, miserable feeling"
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"“Nay, nay!” said the Squire. “It’s not so easy to break one’s heart. Sometimes I’ve wished it were. But one has to go on living—‘all the appointed days,’ as is said in the Bible.""
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters)

"In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women. If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears; he is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford parties, or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his hip, or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighbouring commercial town of Drumble, distant only twenty miles on a railroad. In short, whatever does become of the gentleman, they are not at Cranford."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"" . . . it seemed to me that where others had prayed before to their God, in their joy or in their agony, was of itself a sacred place.""
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Cranford)

"I'll not listen to reason. Reason always means what someone else has got to say. "
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"We cannot speak loudly or angrily at such times; we are not apt to be eager about mere worldly things, for our very awe at our quickened sense of the nearness of the invisible world, makes us calm and serene about the petty trifles of today."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Lady Ludlow)

"Aye, aye! good-natured, jolly, full of fun; there are a number of other names for the good qualities the devil leaves his children, as bait to catch gudgeons with. D'ye think folk could be led astray by one who was every way bad?"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Mary Barton)

"Thus, you see, he arrived at the same end, via supposed duty, that he was previously pledged to via interest. I fancy a good number of us, when any line of action will promote our own interest, can make ourselves believe that reasons exist which compel us to it as a duty."
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Lady Ludlow)

"Did I ever say an engagement was an elephant, madam?"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives and Daughters)

""I shall arm myself with a knife" said Mr. Hale: "the days of eating fruit so primitively as you describe are over with me. I must pare it and quarter it before I can enjoy it.""
— Elizabeth Gaskell

"Aye, aye! good-natured, jolly, full of fun; there are a number of other names for the good qualities the devil leaves his children, as bait to catch gudgeons with. D'ye think folk could be led astray by one who was every way bad?"
— Elizabeth Gaskell (Mary Barton)

"All this gladness in life, all honest pride in doing my work in the world, all this keen sense of being, I owe to her! And it doubles the gladness, it makes the pride glow, it sharpens the sense of existence till I hardly know if its pain or pleasure, to think that I owe it to one - nay, you must, you shall hear - to whom I love, as I do not believe man ever loved woman before."
— Elizabeth Gaskell

""Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.""
— Elizabeth Gaskell