It was the misfortune of poetry, to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly, were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly.

More from Persuasion

• A Mr. (save, perhaps, some half dozen in the nation,) always needs a note of explanation.
• My idea of good company ... is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.
• One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.
• She believed that she must now submit to feel that another lesson, in the art of knowing our own nothingness beyond our own circle, was becoming necessary for her.
• A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from; and he who can do it, where there is no doubt of her regard, must, I think, be the happiest of mortals.
• A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer.