Quotessence
Home / Books / Shirley

Shirley

Book by Charlotte Brontë · 3 quotes · Long, Death, Gender

Filter quotes by topic

AllLongDeathGenderWomenHeartbreakPainShirleyEmpowermentExpectationsHypocrisyNostalgiaSocial NormsCharlottebronteFalse BeliefFeminismGodImaginationIndependenceLoveMarriage

Shirley Quotes

“If men could see us as we really are, they would be a little amazed; but the cleverest, the acutest men are often under an illusion about women: they do not read them in a true light: they misapprehend them, both for good and evil: their good woman is a queer thing, half doll, half angel; their bad woman almost always a fiend.”

WomenFeminismExpectationsEmpowermentGenderHypocrisyMisogynyStereotypesIllusionsDouble StandardsClichésMisconceptionsFalse Belief
Book:Shirley
Create image

“Milton's Eve! Milton's Eve! ... Milton tried to see the first woman; but Cary, he saw her not ... I would beg to remind him that the first men of the earth were Titans, and that Eve was their mother: from her sprang Saturn, Hyperion, Oceanus; she bore Prometheus" -- "Pagan that you are! what does that signify?" "I say, there were giants on the earth in those days: giants that strove to scale heaven. The first woman's breast that heaved with life on this world yielded the daring which could contend with Omnipotence: the stregth which could bear a thousand years of bondage, -- the vitality which could feed that vulture death through uncounted ages, -- the unexhausted life and uncorrupted excellence, sisters to immortality, which after millenniums of crimes, struggles, and woes, could conceive and bring forth a Messiah. The first woman was heaven-born: vast was the heart whence gushed the well-spring of the blood of nations; and grand the undegenerate head where rested the consort-crown of creation. ... I saw -- I now see -- a woman-Titan: her robe of blue air spreads to the outskirts of the heath, where yonder flock is grazing; a veil white as an avalanche sweeps from hear head to her feet, and arabesques of lighting flame on its borders. Under her breast I see her zone, purple like that horizon: through its blush shines the star of evening. Her steady eyes I cannot picture; they are clear -- they are deep as lakes -- they are lifted and full of worship -- they tremble with the softness of love and the lustre of prayer. Her forehead has the expanse of a cloud, and is paler than the early moon, risen long before dark gathers: she reclines her bosom on the ridge of Stilbro' Moor; her mighty hands are joined beneath it. So kneeling, face to face she speaks with God. That Eve is Jehova's daughter, as Adam was His son.”

GodWomenNatureStrengthCreationGreatnessEmpowermentIndependenceGenderSelf DeterminationSuperiorityGodlinessTitansEve
Book:Shirley
Create image

“No: I shall not marry Samuel Fawthrop Wynne." "I ask why? I must have a reason. In all respects he is more than worthy of you." She stood on the hearth; she was pale as the white marble slab and cornice behind her; her eyes flashed large, dilated, unsmiling. "And I ask in what sense that young man is worthy of me?”

MenWomenMarriageFeminismIntegrityEmpowermentDignitySelf AwarenessIndependenceEqualityGenderChoiceSelf DeterminationInferiorityMatrimonyWorthinessCourtshipSocial NormsWooingMarriage ProposalSuitability
Book:Shirley
Create image