Quotation from: Villette

Written by: Charlotte Bronte


In Paulina there was more force, both of feeling and character; than
most people thought--than Graham himself imagined--than she would ever
show to those who did not wish to see it. To speak truth, reader,
there is no excellent beauty, no accomplished grace, no reliable
refinement, without strength as excellent, as complete, as
trustworthy. As well might you look for good fruit and blossom on a
rootless and sapless tree, as for charms that will endure in a feeble
and relaxed nature. For a little while, the blooming semblance of
beauty may flourish round weakness; but it cannot bear a blast: it
soon fades, even in serenest sunshine. Graham would have started had
any suggestive spirit whispered of the sinew and the stamina
sustaining that delicate nature; but I who had known her as a child,
knew or guessed by what a good and strong root her graces held to the
firm soil of reality.

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