'In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women.'Narrator
'If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears; he is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford evening parties, or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his ship, or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighbouring commercial town of Drumble, distant only twenty miles on a railroad.'Narrator
'A man,' as one of them observed to me once, 'is so in the way in the house!'Narrator
'Although the ladies of Cranford know all each other's proceedings, they are exceedingly indifferent to each other's opinions. Indeed, as long as they can have their own way, they do not much care what people think of it.'Narrator
'My father once made us,' she began, 'keep a diary, in two columns; on one side we were to put down in the morning what we thought would be the course and events of the coming day, and at night we were to put down on the other side what really had happened. It would be to some people rather a sad way of telling their lives,' (a tear dropped upon my hand at these words) - 'I don't mean that mine has been sad, only so very different to what I expected.'Miss Matty
'She was the first to discover poor Peter's body when she went to strew flowers in the churchyard on Christmas Day.'Narrator
'I've seen her sitting by me on the sofa, pretending to watch and admire my new bonnet, and all the while peeping beyond it at the looking-glass.'Miss Pole
'Why, to think of the old dunce taking three months to learn his ABC, and then dying of measles just as he had got to twy.'Captain Brown
'We don't speak of him,' she said, putting her hand to her head, as if to still me; but she had got the letter. And I'm not sure if it mayn't comfort her a bit.'Mrs. Forrester
'I cannot think how people can be so improvident.'Miss Deborah