People are never so near playing the fool as when they think themselves wise.
Category: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (15 May 1689 – 21 August 1762) was an English aristocrat and writer. Lady Mary is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about the Muslim Orient”.
Let this great maxim be my virtue’s guide,–
In part she is to blame that has been tried:
He comes too near that comes to be denied.
And we meet, with champagne and a chicken, at last.
Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet;
In short, my deary, kiss me, and be quiet.
Satire should, like a polished razor keen,
Would with a touch that ‘s scarcely felt or seen.
But the fruit that can fall without shaking
Indeed is too mellow for me.
Let me assure you, dear, the Viennese let neither grey hair nor stooped shoulders get in the way of making new conquests. Every day I see handsome young men helping their much older lovers into their coaches. In this worldly capital, women under thirty-five are regarded as immature. A woman can’t even hope to make a lasting impression on people until she’s over forty.