Persuasion

Jane Austen

Get this SparkNote to go!

Important Quotations Explained

Yes; it is in two points offensive to me; I have two strong grounds of objection to it. First, as a means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinction, and raising men to honours which their fathers and grandfathers never dreamt of; and secondly, as it cuts up a man's youth and vigour most horribly.


Here is a nut. To exemplify, a beautiful glossy nut, which, blessed with original strength, has outlived all the storms of autumn. Not a puncture, not a weak spot anywhere. This nut … while so many of its brethren have fallen and been trodden under foot, is still in possession of all the happiness that a hazel-nut can be supposed capable of.


And indeed, Mary, I cannot wonder at your husband. Nursing does not belong to a man, it is not his province. A sick child is always the mother's property, her own feelings generally make it so.


If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk. When I yielded, I thought it was to duty; but no duty could be called in aid here. In marrying a man indifferent to me, all risk would have been incurred and all duty violated.


His profession was all that could ever make her friends wish that tenderness less; the dread of a future war all that could dim her sunshine. She gloried in being a sailor's wife, but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance.


Readers' Notes allow users to add their own analysis and insights to our SparkNotes—and to discuss those ideas with one another. Have a novel take or think we left something out? Add a Readers' Note!

More Help

Read the original

The full text of the original work

Buy the ebook of this SparkNote on BN.com

Easy to view on your iPod, phone, or ereader.

EVEN MORE HELP! ↓

Take a Study Break

SparkLife

Star Trek gets SEXY

Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana heat up the red carpet!

SparkLife

Are you afraid of relationships?

Auntie SparkNotes can help!

SparkLife

Wanna get JLaw's gorgeous glow?

Click here for simple, sexy makeup tricks!

SparkLife

Sexy starlet style

See every single look from the Met Gala!

SparkLife

Who'd be on your zombie-apocalypse crew?

We already dib'sed Genghis Khan.

Geek out!

The MindHut

Geeky Actors: Then and Now

Travel back in time!

The MindHut

Villains We Want These Actresses to Play

From super cute to super bad!

The MindHut

10 Movies Better Than Their Books

What do you think?

The MindHut

How To Look Like J-Law...

When you don't look like J-Law.

The MindHut

12 Scientific Inaccuracies in Into Darkness

What did Star Trek get wrong?

The Book

Cover image

Order Persuasion at BN.com

All the words, printed on paper. Classic!

Cover image

Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like

Get Our FREE NOOK Reading Apps