If I follow the inclination of my nature, it is this: beggar-woman and single, far rather than queen and married.

Don't laugh at the spinsters, dear girls, for often very tender, tragic romances are hidden away in the hearts that beat so quietly under the sober gowns, and many silent sacrifices of youth, health, ambition, love itself, make the faded faces beautiful in God's sight. Even the sad, sour sisters should be kindly dealt with, because they have missed the sweetest part of life, if for no other reason.

He is a young man with a future of power and opportunity and we are young women destined to be either wives and mothers at the very best, or spinster parasites at the worst.

At least as a single woman, I had time to pursue my own interests, read voraciously, and travel when opportunity presented.

Being a woman, in this world, ultimately makes you crazy.

The cat required far less attendance than a human child, which is one of the reasons why spinster ladies prefer felines to babies.