How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #4
"That's not doing anything! You would be doing something if you kidnapped the baby, or if you went straight away. But that! To fail honourably! To come out of the thing as well as you can! Is that all you are after? […] Settle it. Settle which side you'll fight on. But don't go talking about an 'honourable failure,' which means simply not thinking and not acting at all. [...] Fight as if you think us wrong. Oh, what's the use of your fair-mindedness if you never decide for yourself?" (7.60)
Miss Abbott is totally not okay with Philip's idleness, which she reads as apathy. In her opinion, it'd be better if he had kidnapped the baby—at least Harriet can't be accused of passivity and inaction. But Miss Abbott thinks that it's a crime for someone as smart as Philip to act like a brainless puppet… and we kind of agree with her.
Quote #5
"It's not enough to see clearly; I'm muddle-headed and stupid, and not worth a quarter of you, but I have tried to do what seemed right at the time. And you—your brain and your insight are splendid. But when you see what's right you're too idle to do it. You told me once that we shall be judged by our intentions, not by our accomplishments. I thought it a grand remark. But we must intend to accomplish—not sit intending on a chair." (7.62)
Caroline isn't sparing Philip any of her criticism. Now she's throwing his own words back at him, arguing that having good intentions alone isn't good enough—you have to put those intentions to use by doing something. Actions speak louder than words, and while Philip can talk the talk, he doesn't walk the walk.
Quote #6
"You appreciate us all—see good in all of us. And all the time you are dead—dead—dead." (7.66)
Miss Abbott equates Philip's passivity with death—if he's not going to act on his words then he might as well be "dead, dead, dead." It's important to Caroline that Philip stop being a puppet doing his mother's every bidding, and never deciding things on his own. Philip seems perfectly content with his life and doesn't see any need to change. Is Philip even capable of change or is he doomed to a life of inactivity?