Date: 1790

"Alas! when an impassioned mind, wounded by indifference, attempts recrimination, it is like a naked and bleeding Indian attacking a man arrayed in complete armour, whose fortified bosom no stroke can penetrate, while every blow which indignant anguish rashly aims, recoils on the unguarded heart."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1790

"In vain we may lament the loss of our tranquillity; for peace, like the wandering dove, has forsaken its habitation in the bosom, and will return no more."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1791

"Madame forbore for the present to ask any questions that might lead to a discovery of her connections, or seem to require an explanation of the late adventure, which now furnishing her with a new subject of reflection, the sense of her own misfortunes pressed less heavily upon her mind."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1791

"'Long suffering,' said La Motte, 'has subdued in our minds that elastic energy, which repels the pressure of evil, and dances to the bound of joy.'"

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"A train of gloomy ideas haunted her mind, till she fell asleep."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"Retired to her lonely cabin, her melancholy thoughts still hovered round the body of her deceased parent; and, when she sunk into a kind of slumber, the images of her waking mind still haunted her fancy."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"Such scenes are indeed, to the mind, like 'those faint traces which the memory bears of music that is past.'"

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"It brought gloomy images to her mind, but the view of the Adriatic soon gave her others more airy, among which was that of the sea-nymph, whose delights she had before amused herself with picturing; and, anxious to escape from serious reflections, she now endeavoured to throw her fanciful ideas ...

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"This letter brought many tears to Emily's eyes; tears of tenderness and satisfaction on learning that Valancourt was well, and that time and absence had in no degree effaced her image from his heart."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"The scenes of the Illiad illapsed in glowing colours to her fancy--scenes, once the haunt of heroes--now lonely, and in ruins; but which still shone, in the poet's strain, in all their youthful splendor."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)