Nature, more of a stepmother than a mother in several ways, has sown a seed of evil in the hearts of mortals, especially in the more thoughtful men, which makes them dissatisfied with their own lot and envious of another's.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Jane was my wicked stepmother: she was generous, affectionate and resourceful; she salvaged my schooling and I owe her an unknowable debt for that. One flaw: sometimes, early on, she would tell me things designed to make me think less of my mother, and I would wave her away, saying, 'Jane, this just backfires and makes me think less of you.'
Mothers are great. They outlast everything. But when they're bad, they're the worst thing that can happen.
The gentleman had also a young daughter, of rare goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world.
A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.
It's interesting to me that I get cast as mothers and really maternal, sweet, nice people... Maybe I have a vulnerability or something; maybe that's what it is.
Nature seems at each man's birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices, and to have determined how good or how wicked that man shall be capable of being.
It's no wonder the narcissistic mother will always have a place in literature: she's a freak of nature.
Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.
I never had that wicked stepmother or evil stepfather thing at all. I'm very close to both step-parents and I consider them to be my parents, too.
Nature is the mother and the habitat of man, even if sometimes a stepmother and an unfriendly home.