Anna Seward

“Though just biographical record will touch the failings of the good and the eminent with tenderness.”

“Time's stern tide, with cold Oblivion's wave, Shall soon dissolve each fair, each fading charm.”

“A masculine education cannot spare from professional study and the necessary acquisition of languages, the time and attention which I have bestowed on the compositions of my countrymen.”

“Were I to flatter myself with the possibility of success in such combat, it would indeed be presumption.”

“Not the slow Hearse, where nod the sable plumes,     The Parian Statue, bending o'er the Urn,     The dark robe floating, the dejection worn     On the dropt eye, and lip no smile illumes; Not all this pomp of sorrow, that presumes     It pays Affection's debt, is due concern     To the FOR EVER ABSENT, tho' it mournFashion's allotted time. If Time consumes, While Life is ours, the precious vestal-flame     Memory shou'd hourly feed;—if, thro' each day,     She with whate'er we see, hear, think, or say, Blend not the image of the vanish'd Frame,     O! can the alien Heart expect to prove, In worlds of light and life, a reunited love!”

“To what derision should I be exposed from a thousand quarters!- An unlearned female entering the lists of criticism against the mighty Johnson!”

“Let me be content with being happy, without sighing that I am not distinguished.”

“Suffer not thy wrongs to shroud thy fate, But turn, my soul, to blessings which remain.”

“If I had girls to educate I would not have them learn both music and drawing.”