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Quote#Wisdom

Affection requires a firmer foundation than sympathy, and few people…

Quote byMary Wollstonecraft · 1759–1797

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Letters Written in Sweden (1796), Letter 17.

English (original)

Affection requires a firmer foundation than sympathy, and few people have a principle of action sufficiently stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of all the arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I am persuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more under the direction of principle than weak people are willing to allow.

— Mary Wollstonecraft

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