Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c745IR // #c745Verbatim excerpt
I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience.

— Source: Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)

[Use when]

Use when a neat lesson would falsify the material. Leave the judgment to whomsoever it may concern.

[Why it matters]

Austen ends by refusing the moral of the story and handing the verdict to the reader with a wink. A tidy moral would be a lie about a book built on misjudgment; the narrator walks off instead of preaching.

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