"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of."
May 23, 2014 Dear Jane, How truly right you are in the above sentiment, for a large income seems to be one of the ONLY recipes for happiness at this time! Must making a living be so incredibly difficult, Jane? Why won't a kind, elderly gentleman or lady bestow an endowment upon me with the hopes that, because of their admirable generosity, I will become the most remarkable artist I can be? I confess that I struggled between using the above quotation and one other for my headline, so I shall share it, as it is equally relevant to this conversation. " I am sorry to tell you that I am getting very extravagant, and spending all my money, and, what is worse for you , I have been spending yours too." ~ Letter to Cassandra (1811-04-18) [ Letters of Jane Austen -- Brabourne Edition ] It is a true comfort to know that I am not the only one who enjoys being "extravagant" now and again. (And by extravagant I mean grocery shopping.... But also buying rings fro...