Quotessence
Home / Authors / Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenFrankenstein NovelIfsMindMiserableSoulWorldMiseryCreaturesFeelings

Famous Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Quotes

“Nothing is more painful to the human mind than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows and deprives the soul both of hope and fear.”

MindHumansHas BeensSoulFeelingsEventsPainfulCertaintyHuman MindCalmnessInactionSuccessionHopes And Fears
Book:Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus: With Supplementary Essays and Poems from the Twentieth Century
Create image

“If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.”

IfsMindHumansSimplePleasureStudyTasteAffectionTendenciesHuman MindSimple PleasuresUnlawful
Book:Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text
Create image

“For a moment my soul was elevated from its debasing and miserable fears to which these sights were the monuments and the remembrances. For an instant I dared to shake off my chains, and look around me with a free and lofty spirit; but the iron had eaten into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my miserable self.”

LooksSoulSelfMomentsSpiritSightFleshChainsMy SoulMiserableInstantShakesIronHopelessRemembranceMonumentLoftyTrembling
Book:Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus
Create image

“But he found that a traveller's life is one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are for ever on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure for something new, which again engages his attention, and which also he forsakes for other novelties.”

FeelingsPainLife IsFoundPleasureAttentionQuittingEnjoymentSomething NewObligedNoveltyTravellerReposeForsake
Book:Frankenstein
Create image

“Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents: how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb! Of what materials was I made, that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture? But I was doomed to live.”

MenChildrenHas BeensMadeDiesNextParentMaterialsLoversOne DayMiserableTortureWheelsShockDecayDoomedWormsPreyBridesTombsForgetfulnessBlooming
Book:Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus
Create image

“I expected this reception. All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me, and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.”

IfsMenArtPurposeHateSportsBloodConditionsMankindMinesDutyCreaturesBoundsDareRefuseCreatorExpectedMiserableHatedTiesWretchedKill MeLiving ThingsAnnihilationReceptionDetest
Author:Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Create image

“Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be small, but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly deprived.”

Has BeensCareLostBornObjectsDespairRemainsBoundsDearAffectionHeavyCirclesTiesMutualMisfortunesOur LoveDeprivedTransfers
Book:Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus [1818 Text]: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition
Create image

“I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and forgetting my solitude and deformity, dared to be happy.”

LongFeltForgetPleasureEmotionHalfSolitudeSensationsGentlenessNoveltyReviveDeformity
Book:Frankenstein, Or, the Modern Prometheus [1818 Text]: Easyread Comfort Edition
Create image

“There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand. I am practically industrious - painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and labour - but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects, which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore.”

MenSoulBeliefCommonSeaProjectsPerseveranceMy SoulLabourRegionsPathwaysMarvellousIndustriousWorkmenIntertwinedWild Sea
Book:Frankenstein
Create image

“But success shall crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracking a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?”

MenWayHeartStillsStarsGoneSeaElementsDeterminedSecureWitnessTriumphWhy NotCrownsTestimonyObedientEndeavourTrackingUntamed
Book:Frankenstein: the play
Create image