Quote#Courage
It was the old New York way of taking life "without effusion of…
Quote byEdith Wharton · 1862–1937
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Age of Innocence (1920), Ch. 33.
English (original)
It was the old New York way of taking life "without effusion of blood": the way of people who dreaded scandal more than disease, who placed decency above courage, and who considered that nothing was more ill-bred than "scenes," except the behaviour of those who gave rise to them.
— Edith Wharton
More from Edith Wharton
The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it.
A New York divorce is in itself a diploma of virtue.
There are two ways of spreading light: to be The candle or the mirror that reflects it.
Set wide the window. Let me drink the day. I loved light ever, light in eye and brain — No tapers mirrored in long palace floors, Nor dedicated depths of silent aisles, But just the common dusty wind-blown day That roofs earth's millions.
It was part of her discernment to be aware that life is the only real counselor, that wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissues.
He had come on her that morning in a moment of disarray; her face had been pale and altered, and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm. That is how she looks when she is alone! had been his first thought; and the …