A Well-Behaved Woman Quotes
"Once there was a desperate young woman whose mother was dead and whose father was dying almost as quickly as his money was running out."
"Mrs. Harmon said that once able to sew, a highly skilled person could earn as much as ten dollars a week."
"Clean and responsible. That might be the most Alva and her sisters could hope to be unless at least one of them married well."
"Her: Do you enjoy that new game, lawn tennis? I’d wager you’re awfully good at it. (Bat eyelashes. Smile.)"
"It pleases me that you’re so understanding—and intelligent!"
"Love was a frivolous emotion, certainly no basis for a marriage—every young lady knew this."
"My husband—Will admire you tremendously, as will his gentleman friends—a perfect outcome!"
"It can be. For me, it can be. It will be. It has to be."
"What a tale she had for Consuelo! Except, might it be better to let everyone believe that the invitation to the Patriarch Ball had arisen only due to Mr. McAllister’s high esteem?"
"The surest way to create desire is to first establish denial."
"Suppose her rapid pulse and nervous breathing indicated not only eagerness but love, too, and she hadn’t yet learned to recognize it."
"I always imagined my husband would be stimulating and sophisticated and clever, concerned with more than sport."
"I am certain my affections will improve, with time. He has excellent teeth."
"The world is wonderful, wonderful, I tell you, if one only views it in the right manner."
"The sound Eugénie’s hands make grows louder, like thumping, pounding, and her cheers become rapid barks."
"Nothing pleases me more than to aid my good friends."
"Sublime understatement is what you want, if you hope to be received by Mrs. Astor and her set."
"Magic is ever a trick, and yet the beholder believes."
"He adores me—does his behavior not prove it?"
"You’ll want some advice, perhaps, in arranging your household."
"If you hope to be received by Mrs. Astor and her set."
"The family should, of course, be vigilant for anything libelous."
"Your father’s financial difficulties are understandable."
"You mustn’t act as though you like whatever he does to you."
"A man of average height, he managed to come across as shorter."
"Despite the care he took with his appearance and his attempt to be distinguished, there was something of the banty rooster about him."
"You’ll pay for it. And for Corneil’s house, too. It’s not as if you can’t afford it—and isn’t it simply a kind of, what do you call it, a diversification of assets from stocks to real property?"
"I am surrounded by food. I’m going to make the most of it, Mary. All of it. I’m going to beat society at its own game."
"I must have been born to do architectural work. I understand the aesthetics of composition, fenestration, materials, all of it, and have never been happier than when I am putting my mind to the intricacies of a pleasing floor plan or orchestrating detail for a wall or window or stairway or hall."
"It’s worth it, she thought. This was what women did, what they’d always done. She was no different from any of them—or perhaps she was wiser: she at least was gaining in status."
"Love is like the wild rose-briar, Friendship like the holly tree—The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms But which will bloom most constantly?"
"If the desire for love was in fact unnecessary, why would it persist?"
"I don’t intend to speak of it to him at all, nor to Miss Whiting. They’re hardly more than acquaintances of mine. It’s their affair. I have far more worrisome matters to occupy me."
"Nothing stayed the same for long. For example, thanks to the French, Madison Square now sported a forty-two-foot-high statue of a right arm and hand holding a torch—its erection there a stunt meant to inspire citizens to contribute money toward erecting all of "Liberty" on a more appropriate site."
"The poorest Parisian, while he may have nothing, would live nowhere else."
"An intelligent woman in this world takes her chances where she finds them."
"An ideal life was still deficient. She was not wholly content."
"God made us equal and it’s man who creates the imbalances, the unfairness, the arbitrary rules meant to keep power in the hands of a few."
"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."
"One does not have to give in to unwise desires."
"A person should stand up for what he or she believed in."
"Everything was settled now. Her life was ideal."
"What else might she acquire? Already she had built a beautiful city château and a summer home."
"Sometimes it’s the other servants saying things—like how it’s not right for someone like me to keep a position that ought to be done by ‘someone who’s better suited.’"
"You think he’s always been selfish and conniving and immoral?"
"She’s one of the most admired ladies in this country, Alva, but where that maid was concerned, you were blind."
"Her tone! Esther Hunt is only attracted to my daughter’s position—"
"That gentleman always has done and always will do whatever it is he thinks suits him best."
"Flattery is lovely. You’re going to receive a great deal of it in the years ahead. But it isn’t all. Take your time."
"You must understand, however, that to the traditional Indian, our custom of burying the dead is horrid and cruel, as it traps the soul for all eternity."
"I’ve always believed one’s situation has everything to do with one’s circumstances."
"I have given you every single thing you’ve desired."
"We are still your mother and father. We just won’t be wife and husband to each other."
"What’s more, ladies have no capacity for managing assets."
"Why on earth would she leave him? She must be unbalanced."
"Nothing is ever quite the way you think it’s going to be."
"You are the only woman I’ve ever truly wanted."
"You didn’t even think about it before you answered!"
"My entire life, Consuelo. That’s how long women have been patiently speaking on this subject to one another and to the men in charge."
"I’m certain you won’t be the first thing on my mind."
"Very important: write at the end of your response."