Quotes from Karen Essex

What is the difference between freedom and hedonism? Between freedom and insanity?

I am telling you that the child will not out live the buildings. Do you understand that wheras women may touch the immortal by giving birth, men--great men-- must build monuments and seek fame?

I selected a simple but graceful gown with a sage-colored organza overdress and a seed-pearl choker, hoping that I had chosen well, and I swept my hair up with long, pearl-dotted pins from a small ivory box on the vanity.

One must either rule side by side or be subdued entirely.

I was a married woman! she said. Why does every generation believe it is the discoverer of pleasure? Your father was a spectacular lover. Even through the wall, I could hear the triumph in her voice.

All my life I have known fear. But I have acted in spite of it. I urge you to do the same. Your father used to say that it is preferable to die rather than to live fearing death.

She knew that it was not smart to address her concerns about money directly, for men despised women who confronted them in this way. She knew that the smart wife, especially one no longer willing to parlay sexual favors, would find a way to bring up matters sweetly, pouring honey all over the problem before showing it to the husband. But she was out of patience.

I am now satisfied of what I always though--which is how much more women can do if they set about it then men. I will lay any bet that had you been here, you would not have got half as much on board as I have.

Feeding the family trumps conviction every time, Mary though, a basic law of the human condition.

Mr. Darwin demonstrated that we- male and female alike- were descended from wild animals. Women, held high in men's esteem and given the task of living up to a higher moral standard, seemed as capable as men of bestial behavior. Jonathan claimed that the women seduced him. It made sense, I suppose. It wasn't as if men evolved from beasts and women evolved from angels. But if women too gave free rein to our base wants, as I did in my dreams, what would happen to our society?

He did not smile. 'We are the keepers of the world's greatest treasures. Does that mean nothing to you?' My children are my greatest treasures,' she said. 'Stone no matter how old, means nothing to me when compared to their welfare.

I sat down to a lavish meal of Irish stew, boiled salad with beets, celery, potatoes doused in cream sauce, haddock and rice, and a long cheeseboard piled with pungent varieties and tasty rolls. I ate with fiendish voraciousness, and slowly, my hunger subsided and my nerves calmed.

My dress is of plain forest green wool, but the other girls are wearing beautiful tunics the color of gems- ruby dresses with sapphire mantles and dappled with jewels that dance before me like little insects on fire. My hair is dark as a crow, but theirs is red and gold and even longer than mine. A ray of sun slashes through the turbulent Irish sky, and I see that my friends' perfect skin shimmers in the sun, making them almost translucent.

It is not that I do not approve. Whatever a man's passion, he must pursue them, unless they offend God.

The people call it a miracle; the scientists call it invention. But the invention is miraculous, is it not?

Hungry men are not known for their patience or their kindness.

You see, Great Caesar. she said, this is the way in which mortals retain the power of the divine---in every earthly choice they make. 'But it's a paradox.' he said. 'Human beings are in control of everything and nothing at all.' 'Yes, she answered, her coy smile spreading joy across her lovely face. It is that simple.

Ho personalmente sezionato la lingua, e benché non abbia trovato muscoli specifici per i pettegolezzi, questo sembra lo scopo principale di quell'organo-almeno a corte.

Think about it. For the sake of fame, men will risk great dangers. They put themselves in the jaws of death more than for their children. For fame, they will spend their money like water and work their fingers to the bone. Have you not observed this in your own home?

You see, Miss Mina, the air is thick with the spirits of the young sailors and fishermen who died in the sea. They still yearn for the love and touch of beautiful women, young men that they were when they were forced to leave their bodies and earthly pleasure behind. I tell you this to warn you, beauty that you are with your jet-colored hair and your lovely skin more pure and delicious than the top of the cream, and those eyes of yours that stole their green from a sultan's emerald.

The strong do as they will while the weak suffer what they must.

It is a woman's burden to suffer the machinations and destruction of men.

The merciful man is rarely victorious. One's enemies are like snakes; though one may learn to handle them, they are always poisonous.

Simplicity! He is as simple as a spider's web.