Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington quotes

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington was an Irish novelist, journalist, and literary hostess renowned in 19th-century London society. Her salons attracted leading writers, artists, and intellectuals of her era. She became especially known for her travel writings and for shaping literary culture through her influential networks. Here are 16 of her quotes:

Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

The chief prerequisite for a escort is to have a flexible conscience and an inflexible politeness.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Happiness consists not in having much, but in being content with little.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Who could look on these monuments without reflecting on the vanity of mortals in thus offering up testimonials of their respect for persons of whose very names posterity is ignorant?

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Yes, the meeting of dear friends atones for the regret of separation; and like it so much enhances affection, that after absence one wonders how one has been able to stay away from them so long.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

When we bring back with us the objects most dear, and find those we left unchanged, we are tempted to doubt the lapse of time; but one link in the chain of affection broken, and every thing seems altered.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

I see little alteration at Lyons since I formerly passed through it. Its manufactories are, nevertheless, flourishing, though less improvement than could be expected is visible in the external aspect of the place.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

In France, a woman may forget that she is neither young nor handsome; for the absence of these claims to attention does not expose her to be neglected by the male sex.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Tears may be dried up, but the heart - never.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

Arles is certainly one of the most interesting towns I have ever seen, whether viewed as a place remarkable for the objects of antiquity it contains, or for the primitive manners of its inhabitants and its picturesque appearance.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

We never respect those who amuse us, however we may smile at their comic powers.

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

... the treatment he experienced in England previous to his last departure from it. But I think he does not sufficiently make allowance for the envy and jealousy which prompted people to seize on his separation from Lady Byron as a pretext for attacking him with a thousand slanders, to which her unbroken silence on the cause of their separation lent but too much colour. Byron attributes the insults he received to a false system of morality in England, which condemned him without proof, and intruded itself into a domestic disagreement in which not even friends are deemed authorized to interfere; instead of ascribing them to what is much more likely to be the true cause, an envenomed jealousy of his genius, and the success with which its fruits have been crowned. Other separations in high life have taken place, without either husband or wife being exposed to persecution;..

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington