{ "type": "quote", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret/he-went-in-search", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret/he-went-in-search.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret/he-went-in-search.md", "id": "9af2e0ec-80ac-4e38-8ea8-2b91625a05bc", "slug": "he-went-in-search", "text": "He went in search of that honored kinsman with God knows how heavy a weight of anguish at his heart, for he knew he was about to shatter the day-dream of his uncle's life; and he knew that our dreams are none the less terrible to lose, because they have never been the realities for which we have mistaken them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary Elizabeth Braddon", "slug": "mary-elizabeth-braddon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon" }, "book": { "title": "Lady Audley's Secret", "slug": "lady-audleys-secret", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "dreams and aspirations", "slug": "dreams-and-aspirations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams-and-aspirations" }, { "name": "loss", "slug": "loss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loss" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_Braddon#Lady_Audley's_Secret_(1862)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:02", "more_from_book": [ { "id": "febf6a38-9497-4ea6-b7c7-0d83070ea82d", "slug": "phoebe-marks-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret/phoebe-marks-was", "text": "Phoebe Marks was a person who never lost her individuality. Silent and self-constrained, she seemed to hold herself within herself, and take no color from the outer world.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_Braddon#Lady_Audley's_Secret_(1862)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:02" }, { "id": "f1d14ccc-af5f-4274-a925-22e6dba1cf68", "slug": "he-forgot-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret/he-forgot-that", "text": "He forgot that love, which is a madness, and a scourge, and a fever, and a delusion, and a snare, is also a mystery, and very imperfectly understood by everyone except the individual sufferer who writhes under its tortures.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_Braddon#Lady_Audley's_Secret_(1862)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:02" }, { "id": "d4b5683b-4c26-498b-9b34-418b2046799d", "slug": "let-any-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-elizabeth-braddon/lady-audleys-secret/let-any-man", "text": "Let any man make a calculation of his existence, subtracting the hours in which he has been thoroughly happy—really and entirely at his ease, without one arriere pensée to mar his enjoyment—without the most infinitesimal cloud to overshadow the brightness of his horizon. Let him do this, and surely he will laugh in utter bitterness of soul when he sets down the sum of his felicity, and discovers the pitiful smallness of the amount. He will have enjoyed himself for a week or ten days in thirty years, perhaps. In thirty years of dull December, and blustering March, and showery April, and dark November weather, there may have been seven or eight glorious August days, through which the sun has blazed in cloudless radiance, and the summer breezes have breathed perpetual balm. How fondly we recollect these solitary days of pleasure, and hope for their recurrence, and try to plan the circumstances that made them bright; and arrange, and predestinate, and diplomatize with fate for a renewal of the remembered joy. As if any joy could ever be built up out of such and such constituent parts! As if happiness were not essentially accidental—a bright and wandering bird, utterly irregular in its migrations; with us one summer's day, and forever gone from us on the next!", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Elizabeth_Braddon#Lady_Audley's_Secret_(1862)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:02" } ] }