Elizabeth Gaskell Quotes
He could remember all about it now; the pitiful figure he must have cut; the absurd way in which he had gone and done the very thing he had so often agreed with himself in thinking would be the most foolish thing in the world; and had met with exactly the consequences which, in these wise moods, he had always foretold were certain to follow, if he ever did make such a fool of himself.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Wives and Daughters. Smith, Elder & Co., 1866.
During her adult life, she was the de facto, all powerful ruler of China. This is one of the very rare times in history that an absolute ruler, issued an official document showing their errors and mistakes with respect to some government policies. To some, this is an indicator of how powerful a hold that she had on the empire, that she could afford to do this with no fear for her prestige and power. To others it was an example of honest acceptance of responsility.
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her work is of interest to social historians as well as readers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë. In this biography, she wrote only of the moral, sophisticated things in Brontë’s life; the rest she left out, deciding that certain, more salacious aspects were better kept hidden. Among Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851–53), North and South (1854–55), and Wives and Daughters (1865), each having been adapted for television by the BBC.
