As yet I looked upon crime as a distant evil, benevolence and generosity were ever present before me, inciting within me a desire to become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities were called forth and displayed.(Pg. 167)
The volume of Plutarch's lives, ..., elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections to admire and love the heroes of past ages. I felt the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice as far as I understood the signification of those terms, relative as they were, as I applied them, to pleasure and pain alone. (Pg.169).
Slave, I have reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; - Obey! (Pg. 224).
How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery! (Pg.231)
I was ready to sink from fatigue and hunger; but, being surrounded by a crowd, I thought it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility might be construed into apprehension or conscious guilt. (Pg.233).
My father, who was watching over me, perceiving my restlessness, awoke me; the dashing waves were around: the cloudy sky above; the fiend was not here: a sense of security, a feeling that a truce was established between the present hour and the irresistible, disastrous future, imparted to me a kind of calm forgetfulness, of which the human mind is by its structure peculiarly susceptible. (Pg.248)
The agonies of remorse poison the luxury there is otherwise sometimes found in indulging the excess of grief. (Pg.257).
No comments:
Post a Comment