“There is, perhaps, no employment which the human mind will with so much avidity pursue, as the discovery of concealed passion, as the tracing the varieties and progress of a perturbed soul.”

She names hidden passion as the true subject of tragedy · Introductory Discourse, A Series of Plays, 1798

• Drama
• Mind
• Passion

“As for myself, I do not wish to be one year younger than I am, and have no desire, were it possible, to begin life again, even under the most honourable circumstances.”

Late-life contentment without a wish to rewind the clock · Letter to Mary Berry, 1837

• Acceptance
• Age
• Gratitude

“From that strong sympathy which most creatures, but the human above all, feel for others of their kind, nothing has become so much an object of man's curiosity as man himself.”

Her central claim that we watch one another because fellow-feeling and curiosity are native to us · Introductory Discourse, A Series of Plays, 1798

• Curiosity
• Humanity
• Sympathy