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Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte Quotes

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Famous Charlotte Bronte Quotes

“I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, great and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.”

KnowsFirstsMadeSoulHardStrongViewsReaderAffectionMy SoulJaneGerms
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts — when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the character that bends but does not break — at once supple and stable, tractable and consistent — I am ever tender and true. (Mr Rochester to Jane)”

HeartDoeMadeSoulCharacterEyeFacesBreakClearFirePerspectivePleaseDevilIllTongueConsistentTemperStableJaneEloquentTrivialityPlease MeSuppleImbecilityRochesterClear EyesMr RochesterFlatness
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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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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“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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“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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“Rochester: "I am no better than the old lightning-struck chestnut-tree in Thornfield orchard…And what right would that ruin have to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?" Jane: "You are no ruin sir - no lighting-struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful shadow; and as they grow they will lean towards you, and wind round you, because your strength offers them so safe a prop.”

AsksGrowsTreeWindOffersSafeShadowRootsGreenPlantRoundsDelightRuinsDecayLightningJaneLightingVigorousPropsFreshnessOrchardChestnutsRochester
Author:Charlotte Bronte
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“'I wish I had only offered you a sovereign instead of ten pounds. Give me back nine pounds, Jane; I’ve a use for it.' 'And so have I, sir,' I returned, putting my hands and my purse behind me. 'I could not spare the money on any account.' 'Little niggard!' said he, 'refusing me a pecuniary request! Give me five pounds, Jane.' 'Not five shillings, sir; nor five pence.' 'Just let me look at the cash.' 'No, sir; you are not to be trusted.'”

GivingLooksLittlesSaidUseHandsWishBehindsFiveTenLet MeAccountsGive MeNinePoundsCashTrustedSparesSovereignJaneRequestPursesNiggard
Author:Charlotte Bronte
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“I never met your likeness. Jane: you please me, and you master me - you seem to submit, and I like the sense of pliancy you impart; and while I am twining the soft, silken skein round my finger, it sends a thrill up my arm to my heart. I am influenced - conquered; and the influence is sweeter than I can express; and the conquest I undergo has a witchery beyond any triumph _I_ can win.”

HeartI CanSeemsWinningInfluenceMastersArmsMy HeartPleaseMetsFingersRoundsTriumphSubmitThrillConquestJaneImpartPlease MeWitchery
Book:The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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“I am very happy, Jane; and when you hear that I am dead, you must be sure and not grieve: there is nothing to grieve about. We all must die one day, and the illness which is removing me is not painful; it is gentle and gradual: my mind is at rest. I leave no one to regret me much: I have only a father; and he is lately married, and will not miss me. By dying young, I shall escape great sufferings. I had not qualities or talents to make my way very well in the world: I should have been continually at fault.”

WorldWayShouldMindWellsHas BeensYoungSufferingDiesFatherQualityDyingTalentMissingRegretOne DayMarriedShould HaveFaultsPainfulIllnessMy WayGentleGrievingVery HappyJaneShould Have BeenMiss Me
Book:Stop What You’re Doing and Read…To Your Partner: Jane Eyre & Anna Karenina
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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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“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.”

MenNeedsFeelsSufferingEffortFieldsBrotherOughtExerciseCreaturesAbsolutesFellowsCalmGenderSupposed To BePianoBagsFacultyRestraintPrivilegedJaneStagnationKnittingPuddingNarrow-mindedStockingsFeels Just
Book:Jane Eyre
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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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