28+ Sarah Fielding Quotes On Friendship, Education And Humorous

Sarah Fielding was an 18th-century British author. She is best known for her novel The Governess, or The Little Female Academy, which was published in 1749. She is also credited with being the first female novelist to write a coming-of-age story. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Sarah Fielding on love, friendship, education.

Top 10 Sarah Fielding Quotes

1. Tis this desire of bending all things to our own purposes which turns them into confusion and is the chief source of every error in our lives.
2. [Allegory] is a flight by which the human wit attempts at one and the same time to investigate two objects, and consequently is fitted only to the most exalted geniuses.
3. Flattery in courtship is the highest insolence, for whilst it pretends to bestow on you more than you deserve, it is watching an opportunity to take from you what you really have.
4. I fancied I had some constancy of mind because I could bear my own sufferings, but found through the sufferings of others I could be weakened like a child.
5. If modesty and candor are necessary to an author in his judgment of his own works, no less are they in his reader.
6. The loss of liberty which must attend being a wife was of all things the most horrible to my imagination.
7. Agreeable then to my present inclination, I formed the object of my own worship, which was no other than my own understanding.
8. What I mean by love ... is this. A sympathetic liking--excited by fancy, directed by judgment--and to which is joined also a most sincere desire of the good and happiness of its object.
9. I was condemned to be beheaded, or burnt, as the king pleased; and he was graciously pleased, from the great remains of his love, to choose the mildest sentence.
10. On the wings of fancy, gentle readers, bear yourselves into the mid-air, where by imagination you may form a large stupendous castle.

Sarah Fielding Famous Quotes And Sayings

Yet if strict criticism should till frown on our method, let candor and good humor forgive what is done to the best of our judgment, for the sake of perspicuity in the story and the delight and entertainment of our candid reader. — Sarah Fielding

Their virtues lived in their children. The family changed its persons but not its manners, and they continued a blessing to the world from generation to generation. — Sarah Fielding

Men look on knowledge which they learn--or might learn--from others as they do on the most beautiful structures which are not their own: in outward objects, they would rather behold their own hogsty than their neighbor's palace; and in mental ones, would prefer one grain of knowledge gained by their own observation to all the wisdom of a thousand Solomons. — Sarah Fielding

The supposition that it was possible for any woman to be so mean-spirited as not at least to wish to tear out her rival's eyes was too hard for the digestion of the Cry. — Sarah Fielding

I was amongst the virtues like the great Turk in his seraglio of women, and I chose to dwell with that virtue which looked the fairest in my eyes and gave me at that season most pleasure. In short, I made wives of them: I first admired them, then made them my own property, and if they would not submit to my will, I again turned them off and divorced them. — Sarah Fielding

There appears to be but two grand master passions or movers in the human mind, namely, love and pride. And what constitutes the beauty or deformity of a man's character is the choice he makes under which banner he determines to enlist himself. But there is a strong distinction between different degress in the same thing and a mixture of two contraries. — Sarah Fielding

[F]or as Socrates says that a wise man is a citizen of the world, so I thought that a wise woman was equally at liberty to range through every station or degree of men, to fix her choice wherever she pleased. — Sarah Fielding

[F]or women, like tradesmen, draw in the injudicious to buy their goods by the high value they themselves set upon them.... They endeavor strongly to fix in the minds of their enamoratos their own high value, and then contrive as much as possible to make them believe that they have so many purchasers at hand that the goods--if they do not make haste--will all be gone. — Sarah Fielding

[T]he judicious reader ought to know what the chief character in any work of the imagination will naturally perform, according to the situation he is thrown into, as well as doth the author himself. — Sarah Fielding

I am none of those nonsensical fools that can whine and make romantic love--I leave that to younger brothers. Let my estate speakfor me. — Sarah Fielding

I believe no gentleman would like to have his family affairs neglected because his wife was filling her head with crotchets and pothooks, and who, because she understood a few scraps of Latin, valued that more than minding her needle or providing her husband's dinner. — Sarah Fielding

I had some short struggle in my mind whether I should resign my lover or my liberty, but this lasted not long. I found myself as free as air and could not bear the thought of putting myself in any man's power for life only from a present capricious inclination. — Sarah Fielding

[H]ow do I pity those who (assuming the name of friends) surround themselves with maxims importing the wisdom of doubt and suspicion, 'til they impose on themselves that very hard task of laboring through life without ever knowing a human creature to whom they can make the proper use of language and freely speak the dictates of their hearts! — Sarah Fielding

The motives to actions and the inward turns of mind seem in our opinion more necessary to be known than the actions themselves; and much rather would we choose that our reader should clearly understand what our principal actors think than what they do. — Sarah Fielding

I often used to think myself in the case of the fox-hunter, who, when he had toiled and sweated all day in the chase as if some unheard-of blessing was to crown his success, finds at last all he has got by his labor is a stinking nauseous animal. But my condition was yet worse than his; for he leaves the loathsome wretch to be torn by his hounds, whilst I was obliged to fondle mine, and meanly pretend him to be the object of my love. — Sarah Fielding

But in all things whether we shall make only a due use of the liberties we have asked, is left entirely to the judicious reader to decide. — Sarah Fielding

Thoroughly to unfold the labyrinths of the human mind is an arduous task.... In order to dive into those recesses and lay them open to the reader in a striking and intelligible manner, 'tis necessary to assume a certain freedom in writing, not strictly perhaps within the limits prescribed by rules. — Sarah Fielding

I endeavor not to conceal that I believe there is a great mixture of desire in the passion which is called love--or rather, without any far-fetched strain on words, it may be called the companion of love. — Sarah Fielding

Life Lessons by Sarah Fielding

1. Sarah Fielding's work emphasizes the importance of understanding and empathy in relationships, showing how kindness and understanding can lead to positive outcomes.
2. She also emphasizes the importance of education and self-improvement, showing how knowledge and understanding can lead to personal growth.
3. Finally, her work showcases the power of imagination and creativity, demonstrating how these can be used to explore and express emotions, ideas, and stories.