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Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte Quotes

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Famous Charlotte Bronte Quotes

“It does good to no woman to be flattered [by a man] who does not intend to marry her; and it is madness in all women to let a secret love kindle within them, which, if unreturned and unknown, must devour the life that feeds it; and, if discovered and responded to, must lead, ignis-fatuus-like, into miry wilds whence there is no extrication.”

IfsMenDoeWomenSecretMadnessKindlesFlatteredSecret Love
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“No reflection was to be allowed now, not one glance was to be cast back; not even one forward. Not one thought was to be given either to the past or the future. The first was a page so heavenly sweet, so deadly sad, that to read one line of it would dissolve my courage and break down my energy. The last was an awful blank, something like then world when the deluge was gone by.”

WorldFirstsLastsPastEnergyGivenLinesBreakGoneSweetPagesReflectionCastsAwfulHeavenlyBlankGlancesBreaking DownOne LineDeluge
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“If there are words and wrongs like knives, whose deep inflicted lacerations never heal - cutting injuries and insults of serrated and poison-dripping edge - so, too, there are consolations of tone too fine for the ear not fondly and for ever to retain their echo: caressing kindnesses - loved, lingered over through a whole life, recalled with unfaded tenderness, and answering the call with undimmed shine, out of that raven cloud foreshadowing Death himself.”

IfsWholeKindnessCuttingFineEarsShiningCloudsEdgesWhole LifeHealTonePoisonInsultInjuryKnivesTendernessEchoesConsolationRavensDrippingForeshadowingVilletteAnswering The Call
Book:Villette
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“I have little left in myself -- I must have you. The world may laugh -- may call me absurd, selfish -- but it does not signify. My very soul demands you: it will be satisfied, or it will take deadly vengeance on its frame.”

WorldMayLittlesDoeSoulLeftLaughingDemandSelfishSatisfiedAbsurdCall MeVengeance
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Mr. Rochester, I no more assign this fate to you than I grasp at it for myself. We were born to strive and endure - you as well as I: do so. You will forget me before I forget you.”

WellsBornForgetFateStriveEndureForget YouForget MeRochesterMr Rochester
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“It is strange,' pursued he, 'that while I love Rosomond Oliver so wildly-with all the intensity, indeed, of a first passion, the object of which is exquisitely beautiful, graceful, and fascinating--I experience at the same time a calm, unwarped consciousness, that she would not make me a good wife; that she is not the partner suited to me; that I should discover this within a year after marriage; and that to twelve months' rapture would succeed a lifetime of regret. This I know.”

KnowsShouldYearsFirstsBeautifulPassionConsciousnessWifeObjectsStrangeRegretMonthsSucceedLifetimeCalmPartnersFascinatingIntensityTwelvePursuedRaptureGood Wife
Book:Jane Eyre
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“Mr. Rochester, if ever I did a good deed in my life — if ever I thought a good thought—if ever I prayed a sincere and blameless prayer — if ever I wished a righteous wish — I am rewarded now. To be your wife is, for me, to be as happy as I can be on earth.”

IfsI CanEarthValuesWishPrayerWifeSacrificeArmsExpectationsPressesRoundsLipsDelightDeedsSincereRighteousPrivilegedGood DeedsJaneFamineReposeGood ThoughtsBlamelessRochesterMr Rochester
Author:Charlotte Bronte
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“We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us; and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence.”

KnowsWorldFeelsGodNightCoursesNatureSkySilentSpreadScalesWheelsNight SkyOmnipotence
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“It is always the way of events in this life,...no sooner have you got settled in a pleasant resting place, than a voice calls out to you to rise and move on, for the hour of repose is expired.”

WayMovingVoiceHoursEventsThis LifePleasantReposeExpired
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“A great deal; you are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way; they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should - so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.”

PeopleIfsWayFeelsShouldKindPersonsHardReasonDesireGrowsDealsTeachStrikesWickedUnjustObedientBack AgainStrike Back
Book:Jane Eyre
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“If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”

IfsWorldHateConscienceGuiltHatedWickedApprovedFriendlessWithout Friends
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“I hold another creed, which no one ever taught me, and which I seldom mention, but in which I delight, and to which I cling, for it extends hope to all; it makes eternity a rest - a mighty home, not a terror and an abyss. Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last; with this creed, revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low. I live in calm, looking to the end.”

FirstsHeartI CanEndsHomeLastsWorryCrimeTaughtMy HeartLowsEternityForgivingInjusticeCalmTerrorDelightRevengeCriminalsCrushDisgustingCreedsAbyssSincerelyDegradation
Book:Jane Eyre
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