There are certain phrases potent to make my blood boil -- improper influence! What old woman's cackle is that?Are you a young lady?I am a thousand times better: I am an honest woman, and as such I will be treated.
~ Charlotte Brontë
Refrain to-night;And that shall lend a kind of easinessTo the next abstinence, the next more easy;For use almost can change the stamp of nature,And either master the devil or throw him outWith wondrous potency.
~ William Shakespeare
I had hardly ever seen Great Granny Webster at that time, and yet her feelings interested me. She was little more to me than the silhouette of a formidable old woman dressed in black who appeared occasionally at family gatherings and made us feel that she was taking a dangerous risk with her upright spine when circumstances forced her to bend over and kiss her great-grandchildren.
~ Caroline Blackwood
