Rational Creatures Quotes

“ELINOR DASHWOOD After losing her father, home, and the gentleman she loves, Miss Dashwood’s altruism is nothing short of heroic.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“In one section of the Vindication, Wollstonecraft writes that she’s disgusted with how her culture keeps women down. She sees females being most valued by power-hungry men, who encourage them to serve as weak, ignorant, pretty playthings. It’s a perpetuating cycle, because men, Wollstonecraft writes, “have increased that inferiority till women are almost sunk below the standard of rational creatures.” She concludes, “I think the female world oppressed.” We might say that, across this volume’s dazzling stories—and alongside the beyond-compare Austen herself—it’s a belief that must seem eminently rational. Fortunately, then, as now, such a cultural diagnosis precludes neither hope nor joy.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“I suspected the viscount found me a tiresome female; nevertheless, I persisted.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“I have never seen a creature so strong as yourself. How could I pity you?”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“I had no money, no position, and no power—only my wits to help me survive. That would have to be enough.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“It might be supposed that a woman who finds herself without a farthing at the age of two-and-thirty must be ignorant about money matters. On the contrary.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“I wonder now if it was this secret I kept—and my reluctance to disclose it—that clouded my mind so that I did not see the shifting of tides that were to come.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Somehow, deep in her heart, she knew she would never be as happy as she was in this moment. Would that she had been wrong.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Marriage would be remedy to that malady, but she was anxious to make the right choice. There was no merit in it unless one could do it properly.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“A man can make a happy woman unhappy, but he cannot make an unhappy woman happy.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“I do not believe anyone can bring another happiness. That we must find on our own.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“His grasp was strong, unapologetic, and reassuring. He urged her forward by whispering something close to her ear. Though she did not really hear his words, she followed him, and soon they were out.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“At first glance, Miss Hetty Bates would not be considered a rational creature. Although universally adored by her neighbours, her rambling and nonsensical speeches make her the object of ridicule by Emma, while her often ironic disclosures unwittingly reveal clues to the intrigues in Highbury. Despite living in genteel poverty, she maintains an outward appearance of cheer and contented independence. And yet: “Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken.” —Chapter XLIX, Emma.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Emma, darling, you are the most infuriating woman!” He pulled her close and kissed her breathless. “Hetty Bates was a skilled paper boat builder. You, Mrs. Knightley, have other arts and allurements.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“For love is not to be bought, in any sense of the word,” I quote from Miss Wollstonecraft’s words of wisdom, in a quiet whisper. “Its silken wings are instantly shrivelled up when anything beside a return in kind is sought.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Let Mrs. Bennet think what she will. The Longbourn entail aside, to be perfectly honest, I myself almost wish that the babe turns out to be a girl.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“The world is misaligned.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“A marriage for the sake of prudence, or for fondness, or respect, is all well and good,” I mused aloud, “but only for those who have never been in love before.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Shall I worship pretty words in preference to the truth, or blind myself with what is fleeting and fail to see what endures—what is before me?”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Falling in love, she supposed, was not unlike sketching a nose.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“I would not break; I would bend. And regardless of how the storm raged or the river ran, I would endure.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“Nevertheless, one ought always to search for the profit in any situation; thus, I shall say this of the matter: if he is a rake, all the better for me, for it will relieve me of any guilt I might otherwise have felt in working on him.”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures

“It was not my design, of course; yet what an opportunity to punish Lord Doyle and, at the same time, test the efficacy of my newly learned charms!”
― Christina Boyd, Rational Creatures