“She was not an existence, an experience, a passion, a structure of sensations, to anybody but herself. To all humankind besides Tess was only a passing thought. Even to friends she was no more than a frequently passing thought.”
More from Thomas Hardy
“To dwellers in a wood, almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature.”
“Yet it was in that vale that her sorrow had taken shape, and she did not love it as…”
“I cannot tell you. It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language that is…”
“She's never found peace since she left his arms, and never will again till she's as he is…”