Till then I was a happy child, understanding nothing.

Between then and now, if I have discovered little good either in myself or in others, I have learned by heart everything that is bad in the world.

Nothing in meanness or vileness or wretchedness is a secret to me.

Compare me with other girls of nineteen--perhaps still at school.

What sort of a companion should I be for one of those, I wonder! What strange thoughts I should have, if ever I talked with such a girl; how old I should feel myself beside her!" "Your knowledge is better in my eyes than their ignorance.