That cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in the mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units.

More from Tess of the d'Urbervilles

• A little one-eyed blinking sort of place.
• Did it never strike your mind that what every woman says some cannot!
• Lord love ‘ee, neither court-paying, nor preaching, nor the seven thunders themselves, can wean a woman when ‘twould be better for her that she should be weaned.
• Once victim, always victim-that’s the law!