Charlotte Brontë > Quotes

“All John Reed’s violent tyrannies, all his sisters’ proud indifference, all his mother’s aversion, all the servants’ partiality, turned up in my disturbed mind like a dark deposit
in a turbid well.

Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, for ever condemned? Why could I never please? Why was it useless to try to win any one’s favour?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jan Eyre

“Much enjoyment I do not expect in the life opening before me: yet it will, doubtless, if I regulate my mind, and exert my powers as I ought, yield me enough to live on from day to day.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“That night I never thought to sleep; but a slumber fell on me as soon as I lay down in bed. I was transported in thought to the scenes of childhood: I dreamt I lay in the red-room at Gateshead; that the night was dark, and my mind impressed with strange fears.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“A nőket általában nyugodtnak, csendesnek tartják, pedig a nők éppen úgy szeretik a képességeiket, tehetségüket próbára tenni, mint fivéreik. Ők is éppen úgy szenvednek, ha túlságosan megkötik őket, ha tétlenségre vannak kárhoztatva, mint a férfiak, és kicsinyesség azt kívánni az asszonyoktól, hogy elégedjenek meg a főzéssel és a harisnyakötéssel, a kalimpálással és hímezgetéssel. Meggondolatlanság elítélni vagy kinevetni az asszonyokat, ha többet akarnak tenni vagy tanulni, mint amennyit a szokások a női nemnek kiszabtak.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“that then I longed for a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life I had heard of but never seen; that I desired more of practical experience than I possessed; more of intercourse with my kind, of acquaintance with variety of character, than was here within my reach.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“The little creature, thus left unharassed, did for herself what none other could do—contended with an intolerable feeling; and, ere long, in some degree, repressed it. That day she would accept solace from none; nor the next day: she grew more passive afterwards.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“Indisputably, a great, good, handsome man is the first of created things.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

“Es inútil decir que los seres humanos deberían estar satisfechos de llevar una vida tranquila; han de tener acción, y si no pueden encontrarla, la provocarán de un modo u otro.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“I could bend her with my finger and thumb: and what good would it do if I bent, if I uptore, if I crushed her? Consider that eye: consider the resolute, wild, free thing looking out of it, defying me, with more than courage-with a stern triumph. Whatever I do with its cage, I cannot get at it-the savage, beautiful creature! If I tear, if I rend the slight prison, my outrage will only let the captive loose. Conqueror I might be of the house; but the inmate would escape to heaven before I could call myself possessor of its clay dwelling place.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“It was as if a band of Italian days had come from the South, like a flock of glorious passenger birds, and lighted to rest them on the cliffs of Albion.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“A esperança sorri aos que lutam.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“Love, when he comes wandering like a lost angel to our door, is at once admitted, welcomed, embraced. His quiver is not seen; if his arrows penetrate, their wound is like a thrill of new life.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

“-...tiene frío porque se encuentra sola; no hay contacto que despierte el fuego que tiene dentro. Está enferma, porque está privada de los sentimientos más elevados y dulces que puede conocer el ser humano. Es tonta, porque, aunque sufre, no pide ayuda ni da un solo paso para acercarse adonde ésta la espera - Mr. Rochester”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“A kind fairy, in my absence, had surely dropped the required suggestion on my pillow; for as I lay down, it came quietly and naturally to my mind.—”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“It is in vain to say that human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they must.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“To be home-sick, one must have a home; which I have not.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“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”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“...thoughts I did not think necessary to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“U postelju sam nosila i svoju lutku. Ljudska bića moraju da vole nekoga, a kako nisam imala dostojniji predmet ljubavi, bila sam prisiljena da nađem zadovoljstva u tome da volim i mazim jedno izbledelo lice, dronjavo kao kakvo minijaturno strašilo. I danas se još jednako pitam s kakavom sam apsurdnom iskrenošću zavolela ovu malu igračku, zamišljajući da je poluživa i sposobna da oseća. Ne bih mogla da zaspim dok ona ne bi bila uvijena u moju spavaću košulju i dok ne bi spokojno ležala pored mene; bila sam donekle srećna, verujući da je i ona srećna.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“He sees not as man sees, but far clearer: judges not as man judges, but far more wisely.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“but I knew that he was my own uncle”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Hoe goed zou het me toen gedaan hebben als ik door elkaar werd geschud door de stormen van een onzeker leven vol strijd en door rauwe, bittere ervaring zou leren verlangen naar de rust waarover ik me nu beklaagde!”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Mi sono abituato ad amare la segretezza; mi sembra l'unica cosa che possa render misteriosa e meravigliosa la vita moderna per noi.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“she was sure my previous history, if known, would make a delightful romance.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Fruntea aceea pare să spună: „Dacă demnitatea și împrejurările mi-o cer, pot trăi și singură. N-am nevoie să-mi vând sufletul ca să-mi cumpăr fericirea. Am în făptura mea lăuntrică o comoară ce-a venit pe lume odată cu mine și ea va ști să mă țină în viață chiar dacă toate celelalte bucurii mi-ar fi tăgăduite sau mi s-ar oferi la un preț pe care nu l-aș putea plăti”.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“there was ever in Mr. Rochester (so at least I thought) such a wealth of the power of communicating happiness, that to taste but of the crumbs he scattered to stray and stranger birds like me, was to feast genially.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Se da por supuesto que las mujeres son más tranquilas en general, pero ellas sienten lo mismo que los hombres; necesitan ejercitar y poner a prueba sus facultades, en un campo de acción tan preciso para ellas como para sus hermanos. No pueden soportar represiones demasiado severas ni un estancamiento aoluto, igual que les pasa a ellos. Y supone una gran estrechez de miras por parte de algún ilustre congénere del sexo masculino opinar que la mujer debe limitarse a hacer repostería, tejer calcetines, tocar el piano y bordar bolsos. Condenarlas o reírse de ellas cuando pretenden aprender más cosas o dedicarse a tareas que se han declarado impropias de su sexo es fruto de la necedad.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“My living darling! These are certainly her limbs, and these her features; but I cannot be so blest, after all my misery. It is a dream; such dreams as I have had at night when I have clasped her once more to my heart, as I do now; and kissed her, as thus—and felt that she loved me, and trusted that she would not leave me.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre