It seemed to me that all things were possible on the island, all tyrannies and cruelties, though in small; and if, in despite of what was possible, we lived at peace with another, surely this was proof that certain laws unknown to us held sway, or else that we had been following the promptings of our hearts all this time, and our hearts had not betrayed us. J.M. Coetzee
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"It seemed to me that all things were possible on the island, all tyrannies and cruelties, though in small; and if, in spite of what was possible, we lived at peace with another, surely this was proof that certain laws unknown to us held sway, or else that we had been following the promptings of our hearts all this time, and our hearts had not betrayed us." Jane Austin is speaking about how she felt while she was writing her novels. It’s hard to say what she meant because she uses many metaphors and symbolism in the novel, but it seems that she was referring to the power of her own imagination. She could create anything that she wanted and create stories out of thin air. While this idea sounds nice and perhaps even inspiring, it doesn’t really work for writing a novel.

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