"Whoever will cultivate their own mind will find full employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing as exotic fruits and flowers; the vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search after knowledge. . . and the longest life is too short."

Source : Mary Wortley Montagu (2011). “The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu”, p.229, Cambridge University Press

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