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Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte Quotes

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Famous Charlotte Bronte Quotes

“Is not the real experience of each individual very limited? And, if a writer dwells upon that solely or principally, is he not in danger of repeating himself, and also of becoming an egotist? Then, too, imagination is a strong, restless faculty, which claims to be heard and exercised: are we to be quite deaf to her cry, and insensate to her struggles? When she shows us bright pictures, are we never to look at them, and try to reproduce them? And when she is eloquent, and speaks rapidly and urgently in our ear, are we not to write to her dictation?”

IfsWritingTryingLooksRealShowsIndividualSpeakStrongImaginationStruggleHeardCryDangerBecomingEarsClaimsFacultyRestlessDeafEloquentDictation
Book:Jane Eyre
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“If you like poetry let it be first rate, Milton, Shakespeare, Thomson, Goldsmith Pope (if you will though I don't admire him), Scott, Byron, Campbell, Wordsworth and Southey. Now Ellen don't be startled at the names of Shakespeare, and Byron. Both these were great Men and their works are like themselves, You will know how to chuse the good and avoid the evil, the finest passages are always the purest, the bad are invariably revolting you will never wish to read them over twice.”

IfsKnowsMenFirstsEvilNamesWishKnow HowRateAdmireGreat MenCampsPassagesPopeFinestMiltonByronWordsworthElls
Author:Charlotte Bronte
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“I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give.”

IfsNeedsGivingShouldI CanSoulSelfBornAliveCircumstancesSellsDelightTreasureMy SoulBlissSelf RespectInward
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“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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“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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“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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“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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“Arraigned at my own bar, Memory having given her evidence of the hopes, wishes, sentiments I had been cherishing since last night-- of the general state of mind which I have indulged for nearly a fortnight past; Reason having come forward and told in her own quiet way , a plain, unvarnished tale, showing how I had rejected the real, and rabidly devoured the ideal;-- I pronounced judgment to this effect:-- That a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life: that a more fantastic idiot had never surfeited herself on sweet lies, and swallowed the poison as if it were nectar.”

IfsWayMindRealStatesReasonLastsPastLyingNightGivenWishMemoriesMy OwnGreaterEffectsSweetFoolQuietJudgmentEvidenceIdealsBreathsBarsTalesFantasticIdiotPoisonCherishSentimentsState Of MindRejectedLast NightJaneNectarFortnight
Book:The Complete Works Of Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, and The Professor
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“Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is around us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to gaurd us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence, and God waits ony a speration of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward.”

IfsMenWorldEarthPainSpiritWaitingSidesRaceWatchesDyingAngelHatredShameRewardsFleshInvisibleKingdomsInnocenceTortureCrownsScornCrushed
Author:Charlotte Bronte
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“When you are inquisitive, Jane, you always make me smile. You open your eyes like an eager bird, and make every now and then a restless movement, as if answers in speech did not flow fast enough for you, and you wanted to read the tablet of one's heart.”

IfsInspirationalHeartEnoughEyeWantedAnswersMovementStudentsSpeechBirdFlowNow And ThenRestlessJaneTabletsInquisitiveMake Me Smile
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“You need not think that because we chanced to be born of the same parents, I shall suffer you to fasten me down by even the feeblest claim: I can tell you this - if the whole human race, ourselves excepted, were swept away, and we two stood alone on the earth, I would leave you in the old world, and betake myself to new.”

IfsThinkingWorldNeedsHumansI CanTwoWholeEarthSufferingParentBornRaceClaimsHuman RaceOld WorldSwept Away
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal--as we are!”

IfsSpiritTalkingFeetEqualFleshGravesMediumsMortalsAddressesCustomsNot TalkingConventionality
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Children can feel, but they cannot analyse their feelings; and if the analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words.”

IfsKnowsFeelsChildrenFeelingsProcessResultsAnalysis
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“If he does go, the change will be doleful. Suppose he should be absent spring, summer, and autumn: how joyless sunshine and fine days will seem!”

IfsShouldDoeSeemsFineSummerSpringSunshineAutumnAbsentFine DaySpring SummerDoleful
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Because when she failed, I saw how she might have succeeded. Arrows that continually glanced off from Mr. Rochester's breast and fell harmless at his feet, might, I knew, if shot by a surer hand, have quivered keen in his proud heart - have called love into his stern eye, and softness into his sardonic face, or better still, without weapons a silent conquest might have been won.”

IfsHeartHas BeensStillsHandsMightEyeFacesSawsFeetProudWeaponsShotsSilentBreastsConquestMight Have BeenArrowsSoftnessRochesterSardonicMr Rochester
Book:Jane Eyre: Englische Originalausgabe
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“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! - I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you!”

IfsThinkingShouldHeartLittlesMadeSoulHardWealthPoorPovertyHeartbreakShould HaveMade ItGiftedObscureLeaving MeSaying GoodbyeHeartlessSoullessCauses Of Poverty
Book:Jane Eyre
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“It did not seem as if a prop were withdrawn, but rather as if a motive were gone: it was not the power to be tranquil which had failed me, but the reason for tranquility was no more.”

IfsReasonSeemsGoneMotiveTranquilityPropsTranquil
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“That a greater fool than Jane Eyre had never breathed the breath of life; that a more fantastic idiot had never surfeited herself on sweet lies, and swallowed poison as if it were nectar.”

IfsLyingGreaterSweetFoolBreathsFantasticIdiotPoisonJaneNectar
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned.”

IfsFirstsTimeForgivenessFirst TimeWineWarmRevengeSensationsVengeanceSwallowingFlavourBest RevengeMetallic
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“Whatever the cause, I could not meet his sunshine with cloud. If this were my last moment with him, I would not waste it in forced, unnatural distance. I loved him well - too well not to smite out of my path even Jealousy herself, when she would have obstructed a kind farewell. A cordial word from his lips, or a gentle look from his eyes, would do me good, for all the span of life that remained to me; it would be comfort in the last strait of loneliness; I would take it - I would taste the elixir, and pride should not spill the cup.”

IfsShouldWellsLooksKindMomentsWould BeEyeLastsCausesPathLonelinessPrideComfortTasteWasteDistanceLipsCloudsCupsGentleHis EyesSunshineFarewellUnnaturalSpillsElixir
Book:Villette
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“It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”

IfsHumansActionMotivationHuman BeingsOughtSatisfiedVainLive ByTranquilityTranquilTranquillityPeace And TranquilityPeace Tranquility
Book:The Complete Works Of Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, and The Professor
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“Jane, my little darling (so I will call you, for so you are), you don't know what you are talking about; you misjudge me again: it is not because she is mad I hate her. If you were mad, do you think I should hate you?”

IfsThinkingKnowsShouldLittlesPainHateTalkingI HateMadHate YouJaneDarlingHate HerI Hate Her
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“You have introduced a topic on which our natures are at variance - a topic we should never discuss: the very name of love is an apple of discord between us. If the reality were required, what should we do? How should we feel? My dear cousin, abandon your scheme of marriage - forget it.”

IfsFeelsShouldRealityNamesForgetLove IsDearApplesAbandonSchemesTopicsCousinForget ItDiscordVariance
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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