"Words may flatter you, but the countenance never can deceive you; the eyes are the windows of the soul, and through them you are to watch what passes in the inmost recesses of the heart."
— Edgeworth, Maria
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Joseph Johnson
Date
1795 (w. 1787)
Metaphor
"Words may flatter you, but the countenance never can deceive you; the eyes are the windows of the soul, and through them you are to watch what passes in the inmost recesses of the heart."
Metaphor in Context
Words may flatter you, but the countenance never can deceive you; the eyes are the windows of the soul, and through them you are to watch what passes in the inmost recesses of the heart. There, if you discern the slightest ideas of doubt, blame, or displeasure; if you discover the slightest symptoms of revolt, take the alarm instantly. Conquerors must maintain their conquests, and how easily can they do this, who hold a secret correspondence with the minds of the vanquished? Be your own spies then; from the looks, gestures, slightest motions of your enemies, you are to form an alphabet, a language intelligible only to yourselves; yet by which you shall condemn them; always remembering that in sound policy suspicion justifies punishment. In vain, when you accuse your friends of the high treason of blaming you, in vain let them plead their innocence, even of the intention. "They did not say a word which could be tortured into such a meaning." No, "but they looked daggers, though they used none."
(pp. 37-8)
(pp. 37-8)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Maria Edgeworth, Letters for Literary Ladies (London: Joseph Johnson, 1795). <Link to 2nd edition at UPenn's Celebration of Women Writers><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
04/16/2011
