Top 380 Elizabeth Gaskell Quotes (2026 Update)
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351. “All that he gained in return for his sixpenny omnibus ride, was a more vivid conviction that there never was, never could be, any one like Margaret; that she did not love him and never would; but that she – no! nor the whole world – should never hinder him from loving her.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

352. “Both were not mental but physical illnesses. She was well aware of this, and would ask how that mended matters, as the feeling was there all the same, and was not removed by knowing the cause. She had a larger religious toleration than a person would have who had never questioned, and the manner of recommending religion was always that of offering comfort, not fiercely enforcing a duty.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

353. “That’s a nice girl of Gibson’s,′ quoth he to himself. ‘But what a tight hold the wench got of the notion of his marrying again! One had need be on one’s guard as to what one says before her. To think of her never having thought of the chance of a step-mother. To be sure, a step-mother to a girl is a different thing to a second wife to a man!”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

354. “And now sharper feelings came shooting through her heart, whether pain or pleasure she could hardly tell. Every mile was rodolent of associations, which she would not have missed for the world, but each of which made her cry upon ‘the days that are no more,’ with ineffable longing.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

355. “She liked the exultation in the sense of power which these Milton men had. It might be rather rampant in its display, and savour of boasting; but still they seemed to defy the old limits of possibility, in a kind of fine intoxication, caused by the recollection of what had been achieved, and what yet should be.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

356. “It had been heavy in weight and long carried; and she had been very meek and patient, till all at once her faith had given way, and she had groped in vain for help!”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

357. “But Mrs. Gibson really meant to make Molly happy, and tried to be an agreeable companion, only Molly was not well, and was uneasy about many apprehended cares and troubles – and at such hours of indisposition as she was then passing through, apprehensions take the shape of certainties, lying await in our paths.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

358. “When all are admitted, how can there be a Holy of Holies?”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

359. “About Emily : “she never showed regard to any human creature; all her love was reserved for animals”.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

360. “His was not the poor vanity that thinks more of the possible mortification of a refusal than of the precious jewel of a bride that may be won.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

361. “Jem had given it to him to bring to her; so it was safe enough; or, if it was not, why she should be glad never to set eyes on it again, for she could not abide fire-arms, they were so apt to shoot people.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

362. “She could not care for him, he thought, or else the passionate fervour of his wish would have forced her to raise those eyes, if but for an instant, to read the late repentance in his.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

363. “The visit promised to be more honorable than agreeable, and Maggie almost wished herself at home again.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

364. “You know, my dears, that your mother was an orphan, and an only child; and I dare say you have heard that your grandfather was a clergyman up in Westmoreland, where I come from.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

365. “I consider the thought as everything,′ said Mrs. Gibson. ‘Thought is spiritual, while action is merely material.’ This fine sentence took the speaker herself by surprise; and in such conversation as was then going on, it is not necessary to accurately define the meaning of everything that is said.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

366. “Nothing had been the same; and this slight, all-pervading instability, had given her greater pain than if all had been too entirely changed for her to recognise it.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

367. “March brought the news of Frederick’s marriage. He and Dolores wrote; she in Spanish-English, as was but natural, and he with little turns and inversions of words which proved how far the idioms of his bride’s country were infecting him.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

368. “Do not let us have to think that the world has too much hardened our hearts.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

369. “Come poor little heart! be cheery and brave.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

370. “The face, often so weary with pain, so restless with troublous thoughts, had now the faint soft smile of eternal rest upon it. The slow tears gathered into Margaret’s eyes, but a deep calm entered into her soul. And that was death! It looked more peaceful than life. All beautiful scriptures came into her mind. ‘They rest from their labours.’ ‘The weary are at rest.’ ‘He giveth His beloved sleep.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

371. “When we are heavy-laden in our hearts, it falls in better with our humor to reveal our case in our own way and our own time.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

372. “I’m not a fool; and if I was, folk ought to ha’ taught me how to be wise after their fashion. I could mappen ha’ learnt, if any one had tried to teach me.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

373. “It was rather dull for Margaret after dinner. She was glad when the gentlemen came, not merely because she caught her father’s eye to brighten her sleepiness up; but because she could listen to something larger and grander than the petty interests which the ladies had been talking about.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

374. “I have been so curt, so abrupt, so abominably dull, that I’ll answer for it he thinks me worthy to be a man.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

375. “As if he did not feel the consciousness of her presence all over, though his eyes had never rested on her!”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

376. “He never looked at her, and yet, the careful avoidance of his eyes betokened that in some way he knew exactly where, if they fell by chance, they would rest on her.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

377. “His thoughts did not come readily to the surface in the shape of words; nor was he apt at giving comfort till he saw his way clear to the real source from which consolation must come.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

378. “Some of my greatest difficulties lie in things that would appear to you comparatively trivial. I find it so hard to repel the rude familiarity of children. I find it so difficult to ask either servants or mistress for anything I want, however much I want it. It is less pain for me to endure the greatest inconvenience than to go into the kitchen to request its removal. I am a fool. Heaven knows I cannot help it!”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

379. “But being anxious and sorrowful about the same thing makes people friends quicker than anything, I think.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

380. “Hollingford speculated much on which young lady would become Mrs Gibson, and was rather sorry when the talk about possibilities, and the gossip about probabilities with regard to the handsome young surgeon’s marriage, ended in the most natural manner in the world, by his marrying his predecessor’s niece.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

381. “Each dainty little child ran up to its mother, or aunt, or particular friend; but Molly had no one to go to.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

382. “It’s the only way working men can get their rights, by all joining together. More the members, more chance for each one separate man having justice done him.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

383. “Or, in the triumph of the crowded procession, have the helpless been trampled on, instead of being gently lifted aside out of the roadway of the conqueror, whom they have no power to accompany on his march? It.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

384. “Her mother was one of those who throw out terrible possibilities, miserable probabilities, unfortunate chances of all kinds, as a rocket throws out sparks; but if the sparks light on some combustible matter, they smoulder first, and burst out into a frightful flame at last.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

385. “Partners whose names were in the ‘Red Book’ would not have produced half the amount of fatigue, according to Mrs. Gibson’s judgment apparently, and if Cynthia had been quite well, very probably she would have hit the blot in her mother’s speech with one of her touches of sarcasm.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell

386. “You are vexed,′ said she, sadly; ‘yet how can I help it?’ She looked so truly grieved as she said this, that he struggled for a moment with his real disappointment, and then answered more cheerfully, but still with a little hardness in his tone:.”

— Elizabeth Gaskell