Mary Wortley Montagu Quotes

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat, letter writer, and poet. Lady Mary is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from travels to the Ottoman Empire, as wife to the British ambassador to Turkey, which have been described by Billie Melman as "the very first example of a secular work by a woman about the Muslim Orient". Aside from her writing, Lady Mary is also known for introducing and advocating for smallpox inoculation to Britain after her return from Turkey. Her writings address and challenge the hindering contemporary social attitudes towards women and their intellectual and social growth. Wikipedia  

✵ 15. May 1689 – 21. August 1762
Mary Wortley Montagu photo
Mary Wortley Montagu: 8   quotes 6   likes

Famous Mary Wortley Montagu Quotes

“Let this great maxim be my virtue’s guide,—
In part she is to blame that has been tried:
He comes too near that comes to be denied.”

The Lady’s Resolve (1713). A fugitive piece, written on a window by Lady Montagu, after her marriage. Compare: "In part to blame is she, Which hath without consent bin only tride: He comes to neere that comes to be denide", Sir Thomas Overbury (1581–1613), A Wife, stanza 36.

“But the fruit that can fall without shaking
Indeed is too mellow for me.”

The Answer.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Satire should, like a polished razor keen,
Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen.”

To the Imitator of the First Satire of Horace, Book ii.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet;
In short, my deary, kiss me, and be quiet.”

A Summary of Lord Lyttelton’s Advice.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Similar authors

George Herbert photo
George Herbert 216
Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest
John Milton photo
John Milton 190
English epic poet
Jean De La Fontaine photo
Jean De La Fontaine 47
French poet, fabulist and writer.
Alexander Pope photo
Alexander Pope 158
eighteenth century English poet
John Donne photo
John Donne 115
English poet
Novalis photo
Novalis 102
German poet and writer
Voltaire photo
Voltaire 167
French writer, historian, and philosopher
Robert Burns photo
Robert Burns 114
Scottish poet and lyricist
Matthias Claudius photo
Matthias Claudius 1
German poet
Samuel Butler (poet) photo
Samuel Butler (poet) 81
poet and satirist