Charlotte Brontë > Quotes

“I looked, and had an acute pleasure in looking - a precious yet poignant pleasure; pure gold, with a steely point of agony; a pleasure like what the thirst-perishing man might feel who knows he well to which he has crept is poisoned, yet he stoops and drinks divine draughts nonetheless.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I grieve to leave Thornfield: I love Thornfield - I love it, because I have lived in it a full and delightful life, - momentarily at least. I have not been trampled on. I have not been petrified. I have not been buried with inferior minds, and excluded from every glimpse of communion with what is bright and energetic, and high. I have talked, face to face, with what I reverence: with what I delight in, - with an original, a vigorous, an expanded mind. I have know you, Mr Rochester; and it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you for ever. I see the necessity of departure; and it is like looking on the necessity of death.”
“Where do you see the necessity?” He asked, suddenly.
“Where? You, sir, have placed it before me.”
“In what shape?”
“In the shape of Miss Ingram; a noble an beautiful woman, - your bride.”
“My bride! What bride? I have no bride!”
“But you will have.”
“Yes;- I will - I will!” He set his teeth.
“Then I must go - you have said it yourself.”
“No: you must stay! I swear it - and the oath shall be kept.”
“I tell you I must go!” I retorted, roused to something like passion. “Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? - a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? 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. 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!”
“As we are!” Repeated Mr Rochester - “so,” he added, enclosing me in his arms, gathering me to his breast, pressing his lips on my lips: “so, Jane!”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Mounting to it by two broad steps, and looking through, I thought I caught a glimpse of a fairy place, so bright to my novice-eyes appeared the view beyond.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Listen to me, she thought. I get one slice of dick and turn into a wide-eyed Disney princess.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Por fin acabó, como todas las cosas que se rigen por el movimiento de la luna”
― Charlotte Brontë, Джейн Эйр

“Could you decide now?” asked the missionary. The inquiry was put in gentle tones: he drew me to him as gently. Oh, that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force! I could resist St. John’s wrath: I grew pliant as a reed under his kindness.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: The Original 1847 Unabridged and Complete Edition

“The spell by which I had been so far supported began to dissolve; reaction took place, and soon, so overwhelming was the grief that seized me, I sank prostrate with my face to the ground. Now I wept: Helen Burns was not here; nothing sustained me; left to myself I abandoned myself, and my tears watered the boards.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“It was not perhaps my business to observe the mystery of his bearing, or search out its origin or aim; but, placed as I was, I could hardly help it. He laid himself open to my observation, according to my presence in the room just that degree of notice and consequence a person of my exterior habitually expects: that is to say, about what is given to unobtrusive articles of furniture, chairs of ordinary joiner's work, and carpets of no striking pattern.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“Besides, there is that peculiar voice of hers, so animating and piquant, as well as soft: it cheers my withered heart; it puts life into it.—What, Janet! Are you an independent woman? A rich woman?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“il pericolo, la solitudine, un avvenire incerto non sono mali opprimenti fino a che il corpo è sano e attive le facoltà; fino a che, specialmente, la libertà ci presta le sue ali e la speranza ci guida con la sua stella.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“I see, at intervals, the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“It is not violence that best overcomes hate – nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“A strange, secret ecstacy steals through my veins at moments: I’ll not encourage—I’ll not remember it. I”
― Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

“Ändå bar Helen Burns just då armbindeln som utpekar "den slarviga". En knappt timme tidigare hade jag hört hur miss Scatcherd dömde henne till middag på vatten och bröd följande dag, därför att hon hade råkat göra en bläckplump i texten hon skrev. Sådan är den ofullkomliga mänskliga naturen! Sådana fläckar finns på ytan också hos den klaraste planet, och ögon som miss Scatcherds ser bara dess små brister och är blind för himlakroppens fulla glans (s. 76).”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“When I tried to pray I could only utter these words: “From my youth up Thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind.” Most true was it. On”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“Un nuevo capítulo de una novela se parece a veces al nuevo decorado de una obra de teatro;...”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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.” “No; I know I should think well of myself; but that is not enough: if others don’t love me I would rather die than live—I cannot bear to be solitary and hated, Helen. Look here; to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Your fortune is yet doubtful: when I examined your face, one trait contradicted another. Chance has meted you a measure of happiness: that I know. I knew it before I came here this evening. She has laid it carefully on one side for you. I saw her do it. It depends on yourself to stretch out your hand, and take it up: but whether you will do so, is the problem I study. Kneel again on the rug."

"Don't keep me long; the fire scorches me."

I knelt. She did not stoop towards me, but only gazed, leaning back in her chair. She began muttering, —

"The flame flickers in the eye; the eye shines like dew; it looks soft and full of feeling; it smiles at my jargon: it is susceptible; impression follows impression through its clear sphere; where it ceases to smile, it is sad; an unconscious lassitude weighs on the lid: that signifies melancholy resulting from loneliness. It turns from me; it will not suffer further scrutiny; it seems to deny, by a mocking glance, the truth of the discoveries I have already made, — to disown the charge both of sensibility and chagrin: its pride and reserve only confirm me in my opinion. The eye is favourable.

"As to the mouth, it delights at times in laughter; it is disposed to impart all that the brain conceives; though I daresay it would be silent on much the heart experiences. Mobile and flexible, it was never intended to be compressed in the eternal silence of solitude: it is a mouth which should speak much and smile often, and have human affection for its interlocutor. That feature too is propitious.

"I see no enemy to a fortunate issue but in the brow; and that brow professes to say, — '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.' The forehead declares, 'Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; and the desires may imagine all sorts of vain things: but judgment shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience.' Well said, forehead; your declaration shall be respected.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“My bride is here... because my equal is here, and my likeness. Jane, will you marry me?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“[Charlotte Brontë] once told her sisters that they were wrong - even morally wrong - in making their heroines beautiful as a matter of course. They replied that it was impossible to make a heroine interesting on any other terms. Her answer was, ‘I will prove to you that you are wrong; I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself, who shall be as interesting as any of yours.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“The sweet wind from Europe was still whispering in the refreshed leaves, and the Atlantic was thundering in glorious liberty; my heart, dried up and scorched for a long time, swelled to the tone, and filled with living blood—my being longed for renewal—my soul thirsted for a pure draught. I saw hope revive—and felt regeneration possible.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Love me, then, or hate me, as you will’, I said at last, ‘you have my full and free forgiveness: ask now for God’s, and be at peace.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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—”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“No sirve de nada afirmar que para los seres humanos debe suponer satisfacción suficiente el haber alcanzado la tranquilidad. Necesitan acción, y si no consiguen hallarla, la inventan.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“But indolent she is, reckless she is, and most ignorant, for she does not know her dreams are rare- her feelings peculiar: she does not know, has never known, and will die without knowing.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

“Civela som na neho a pocítila prenikavú radosť z toho, čo vidím, nádhernú, a predsa pichľavú radosť, čisté zlato s oceľovým hrotom, spôsobujúcim neznesiteľnú bolesť, radosť, kú asi cíti od smädu umierajúci človek, keď vie, že studňa, ku ktorej sa priplatil, je otrávená, no aj tak sa nad ňu nahne a v mene Božom sa napije.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Detta dyrbara föremål placerades nu i mitt knä, och jag uppmanades vänligt att äta det runda läckra bakverket som låg där. Förgäves! Ty i likhet med det mesta som vi längtat efter många gånger men länge har förvägrats kom detta för sent. Jag kunde inte äta kakan... (s. 21-22).”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“He is not to them what he is to me," I thought: "he is
not of their kind. I believe he is of mine; -I am sure he
is-I feel akin to him-| understand the language of
his countenance and movements: though rank and
wealth sever us widely, I have something in my brain
and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates
me mentally to him. Did I say, a few days since, that I
had nothing to do with him but to receive my salary
at his hands? Did I forbid myself to think of him in any
other light than as a paymaster? Blasphemy against
nature! Every good, true, vigorous feeling I have
gathers impulsively round him. I know I must conceal
my sentiments: I must smother hope; I must
remember that he cannot care much for me. For
when I say that I am of his kind, I do not mean that I
have his force to influence, and his spell to attract; I
mean only that I have certain tastes and feelings in
common with him. I must, then "repeat continually
that we are for ever sundered:-and yet, while I
breathe and think, I must love him.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: The Original 1847 Edition With Illustrations