2 quotations linked to Mansfield Park by or associated with Jane Austen, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Selfishness, conscience, judgment, social pressure, irony, character and the tension between inward conviction and persuasive company.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.”
The line is comic rather than literal advice, using exaggeration to expose how readily people excuse entrenched self-interest.
Mary Crawford makes the remark while discussing motives and conduct in company.
“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”
Inner judgment can be more reliable than social pressure when a person has reflected carefully and understands the circumstances firsthand.
The novel contrasts outside pressure with the value of attending to one’s own judgment.
