Mary Russell Mitford Quotes

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Does it not appear to you versatility is the true and rare characteristic of that rare thing called genius-versatility and playfulness? In my mind they are both essential.

Mary Russell Mitford

Play, Mind, Essentials

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford ; Related in an Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends. Ed. by A.G. Estrange”, p.238

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Friendship is the bread of the heart.

Mary Russell Mitford

Heart, Bread

Mary Russell Mitford, Anne Thackeray Ritchie (1906). “Our village”

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I foresee that the Andersen and Fairy Tale fashion will not last; none of these things away from general nature do.

Mary Russell Mitford

Fashion, Lasts, Fairytale

Charles Boner, Mary Russell Mitford (1871). “Memoirs and Letters of Charles Boner: With Letters of Mary Russell Mitford to Him During Ten Years”, p.123

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We may admire people for being wise, but we like them best when they are foolish.

Mary Russell Mitford

Wise, People, May

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford ; Related in an Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends. Ed. by A.G. Estrange”, p.21

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I have discovered that our great favourite, Miss Austen, is my countrywoman...with whom mamma before her marriage was acquainted. Mamma says that she was then the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers...

Mary Russell Mitford

Husband, Butterfly, Hunting

"The Life of Mary Russell Mitford", vol. 1, by Mary Russell Mitford, (letter to Sir William Elford, 1st Baronet), 1870.

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I have still the best comforts of life - books and friendships - and I trust never to lose my relish for either.

Mary Russell Mitford

Book, Comfort, Stills

Mary Russell Mitford (1872). “Letters of Mary Russell Mitford: 2d Ser”, p.232

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Enthusiasm is very catching, especially when it is very eloquent.

Mary Russell Mitford

Enthusiasm, Catching, Eloquent

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford ; Related in an Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends. Ed. by A.G. Estrange”, p.11

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There is no running away from a great grief.

Mary Russell Mitford

Running, Grief, Running Away

Mary Russell Mitford (1841). “The Works of Mary Russell Mitford: Prose and Verse, Viz Our Village, Belford Regis, Country Stories, Finden's Tableaux, Foscari, Julian, Rienzi, Charles the First”, p.227

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Prejudices of taste, likings and dislikings, are not always vanquishable by reason.

Mary Russell Mitford

Taste, Prejudice, Reason

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery”, p.32

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I place flowers in the very first rank of simple pleasures; and I have no very good opinion of the hard worldly people who take no delight in them.

Mary Russell Mitford

Flower, Simple, People

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Related in a Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends”, p.189, London, R. Bentley

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Nothing so pretty to look at as my garden!

Mary Russell Mitford

Garden, Looks

Mary Russell Mitford (1841). “The Works of Mary Russell Mitford: Prose and Verse ...”, p.186

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Trees and children are, of all living things, those whose growth soonest makes one feel one's age.

Mary Russell Mitford

Children, Tree, Growth

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery”, p.333

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The slightest emotion of disinterested kindness that passes through the mind improves and refreshes that mind, producing generous thought and noble feeling, as the sun and rain foster your favourite flowers. Cherish kind wishes, my children; for a time may come when you may be enabled to put them in practice.

Mary Russell Mitford

Kindness, Children, Rain

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery”, p.439

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Autumn glows upon us like a splendid evening; it is the very sunset of the year.

Mary Russell Mitford

Sunset, Autumn, Years

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery”, p.52

49 Copy quote
Fashion is a capricious deity.

Mary Russell Mitford

Fashion, Deities, Capricious

Mary Russell Mitford (1859). “Recollections of a literary life ... Second edition”, p.297

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She was the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly ever.

Mary Russell Mitford

Husband, Butterfly, Hunting

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Well, great authors are great people - but I believe that they are best seen at a distance.

Mary Russell Mitford

Distance, Believe, People

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No fear of forgetting the good-humoured faces that meet us in our walks each day.

Mary Russell Mitford

Journey, Hiking, Each Day

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery”, p.11

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... they know little of the passions who seek to argue with that most intractable of them all, the fear that is born of love.

Mary Russell Mitford

Passion, Littles, Arguing

Mary Russell Mitford (1828). “Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery”, p.160

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In our present high state of civilization, people are so much alike, that anything at all odd comes on one with the freshness and character of an antique coin among smooth shillings.

Mary Russell Mitford

Character, Civilization, People

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Related in a Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends”, p.319, London, R. Bentley

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A novel should be as like life as a painting, but not as like life as a piece of waxwork.

Mary Russell Mitford

Pieces, Painting, Should

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford ; Related in an Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends. Ed. by A.G. Estrange”, p.62

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Our English people are much addicted to raising idols, and then revenging themselves on their own idolatry by knocking down and demolishing the poor bits of wood and stone that they had worshipped as gods. How many literary reputations have been so treated!

Mary Russell Mitford

Idols, People, Woods

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The power of admiring whatever is deserving of admiration, the nice and quick perception of the beautiful and the true, is one of the highest and noblest of our faculties, born of taste, and knowledge, and wisdom, or rather it is taste, and wisdom, and knowledge, in one rare and great combination.

Mary Russell Mitford

Beautiful, Appreciation, Nice

MARY RUSSELL MITFORD (1870). “OUR VILLAGE”, p.406

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[On Elizabeth Barrett Browning:] ... for finish, and melody of versification, there is nothing approaching to Miss Barrett in this day, or in any other - also for diction. Her words paint.

Mary Russell Mitford

Missing, Diction, Poet

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Buonaparte is certainly writing, or rather dictating, his memoirs. He walks backwards and forwards with his hands behind him, and dictates so fast that two or three of his suite are obliged to be in attendance, that the one may take down one-half of a sentence, and another the rest; they then literally compare notes, and put the disjointed legs and wings and heads of periods together. This is writing a book as he fought a battle.

Mary Russell Mitford

Book, Writing, Wings

Mary Russell Mitford (1870). “The Life of Mary Russell Mitford ; Related in an Selection from Her Letters to Her Friends. Ed. by A.G. Estrange”, p.7

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Born: December 16, 1787
Died: January 10, 1855
Occupation: Author
Cite this Page: Citation

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