Whoever will cultivate their own mind will find full employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing as exotic fruits and flowers; the vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search after knowledge. . .… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share
Time has the same effect on the mind as on the face; the predominant passion and the strongest feature become more conspicuous… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil: I mean acute pain. All other complaints are so considerably diminished by time that… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
A man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable is generally proud of those that are shameful and silly. — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
The pious farmer, who ne'er misses pray'rs, With patience suffers unexpected rain; He blesses Heav'n for what its bounty spares, And sees, resign'd, a… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
People wish their enemies dead - but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone! — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
Nobody should trust their virtue with necessity, the force of which is never known till it is felt, and it is therefore one of… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide,- In part she is to blame that has been tried: He comes too near that comes to be denied. — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share
I believe more follies are committed out of complaisance to the world, than in following our own inclinations. — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
We are educated in the grossest ignorance, and no art omitted to stifle our natural reason; if some few get above their nurses instructions,… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
It is 11 years since I have seen my figure in a glass [mirror]. The last reflection I saw there was so disagreeable I… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image
“None strive to know their proper merit But strain for wisdom, beauty, spirit And lose the praise that is their due When they've the… — Mary Wortley Montagu Copy Share Image