I Was Born To Be

My Intention To Lecture Is As Vague As My Intention Is To Go On The Stage. I Will Never Consider An Offer To Lecture, Not Because I Despise The Vocation, But Because I Have No Desire To Appear On The Public Rostrum.

I Am Not Good. I Am Not Virtuous. I Am Not Sympathetic. I Am Not Generous. I Am Merely And Above All A Creature Of Intense Passionate Feeling. I Feel—everything. It Is My Genius. It Burns Me Like Fire.

When A Man And A Woman Love One Another That Is Enough. That Is Marriage. A Religious Rite Is Superfluous. And If The Man And Woman Live Together Without The Love, No Ceremony In The World Can Make It A Marriage.

It Is With Pain That I Read Of The Dire Effects Of My Book Upon The Minds Of Young Girls.

People Say Of Me, 'she's Peculiar.' They Do Not Understand Me. If They Did They Would Say So Oftener And With Emphasis.