Charlotte Brontë > Quotes

“Well has Solomon said—“Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“With Bewick on my knee, I was then happy at least in my way. I feared nothing but interruption, and that came too soon.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Never was the distinction between charity and mercy better exemplified than in her.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“be content to labour for independence until you have proved, by winning that prize, your right to look higher.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“race,”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I was not at all sorry to be alone again, but I was very glad to be quiet, to lie down, and to think.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“All men, taken singly, are more or less selfish; and taken in bodies, they are intensely so. The British merchant is no exception to this rule: the mercantile classes illustrate it strikingly. These classes certainly think too exclusively of making money; they are too oblivious of every national consideration but that of extending England’s — that is, their own — commerce.”
― Charlotte Brontë, The Brontës Complete Works

“Reader, I forgave him at the moment and on the spot. There was such deep remorse in his eye, such true pity in his tone, such manly energy in his manner; and besides, there was such unchanged love in his whole look and mien—I forgave him all: yet not in words, not outwardly; only at my heart’s core.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Mientras tanto, el señor Brocklehurst, de pie ante la chimenea con las manos a la espalda, observaba majestuosamente a la concurrencia. De pronto, parpadeó como su algo lo hubiera deslumbrado o escandalizado, y dijo con palabras más atropelladas que de costumbre:

- Señorita Temple, ¿qué...qué le ocurre a esa muchacha de cabello rizado? ¿Pelirroja, señorita, y cubierta de rizos? - y señaló con mano temblorosa el objeto de su ultraje con el bastón.

- Es Julia Severn - respondió con voz queda la señorita Temple.

-Julia Severn, señorita. ¿Y por qué motivo tiene ella, o cualquier otra, el cabello rizado? ¿Por qué, desafiando a todas las leyes y principios de esta casa evangélica y benéfica, se muestra tan abiertamente mundana como para llevar el cabello hecho una maraña de rizos?

- Los rizos de Julia son naturales - contestó la señorita Temple, con voz aún más baja.

- ¡Naturales! Sí, pero no nos conformamos con lo natural. Quiero que estas muchachas sean hijas de Dios. ¿Por qué semejante exceso? He dado a entender una y otra vez que quiero que se recojan el cabello de manera recatada y sencilla. Señorita Temple, a esta muchacha hay que raparle del todo; haré venir al barbero mañana. Y veo a otras con un exceso parecido. Que se dé la vuelta esa chica alta. Diga que se levanten todas las de la primera clase y se vuelvan hacia la pared.
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Estudió el envés de estas medallas humanas durante unos cinco minutos y después dictó sentencia. Sus palabras cayeron como un toque de difuntos:
- ¡Que se recorten todos los moños!
- Señorita - prosiguió él - he de servir a un Amo cuyo reino no es de este mundo. Es mi misión mortificar los deseos carnales de estas muchachas, enseñarles a vestirse con recato y sobriedad, y no con ropas caras y tocados complicados. Cada una de las jóvenes que tenemos delante lleva un mechón de cabello que la misma vanidad hubiera podido trenzar....”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“—and yet, while I breathe and think I must love him.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“His changes of mood did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do with their alternation; the ebb and flow depended on causes quite disconnected with me.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Mr. Yorke wished to know whether this interference, vigilance, and coercion would feed those who were hungry, give work to those who wanted work, and whom no man would hire. He scouted the idea of inevitable evils. He said public patience was a camel, on whose back the last[Pg 48] atom that could be borne had already been laid, and that resistance was now a duty;”
― Charlotte Brontë, Shirley

“No; you are less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep. There, sit down, and think over your wickedness.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“You should hear mama on the chapter of governesses: Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen at least in our day; half of them detestable and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi - were they not, mama?" Blanche Ingram”
― Charlotte Brontë

“(…) Credete, Jane, di avere una sorta di parentela con me? ” 

Non osavo rispondere in quel momento: avevo il cuore gonfio.

“ Perché “ disse “ qualche volta, soprattutto quando mi siete vicina, come ora, ho nei vostri confronti una sensazione strana: mi sembra di avere una corda, sotto le costole, a sinistra, strettamente, inestricabilmente annodata a una corda analoga situata nella stessa zona del vostro corpo esile. E se quel tempestoso tratto di mare e tre, quattrocento chilometri di terra si metteranno con tutta la loro vastità tra noi, ho paura che quella corda che ci unisce verrà spezzata; e allora temo che comincerei a sanguinare internamente. Quanto a voi… mi dimenticherete. ”


Rochester”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“It is in vain to say human being ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“The road, which should have been white, was dark with a moving mass. The rioters were assembled in front of the closed yard gates, and a single figure stood within, apparently addressing them. The mill itself was perfectly black and still. There was neither life, light, nor motion around it. “Surely he is prepared. Surely that is not Moore meeting them alone?” whispered Shirley. “It is. We must go to him. I will go to him.” “That you will not.” “Why did I come, then? I came only for him. I shall join him.”
― Charlotte Brontë, The Brontës Complete Works

“he is not of their kind. I believe he is of mine;—I am sure he is—I feel akin to him—I understand the language of his countenance and movements:”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“And now it is deluged with a nectarous flood—”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill-usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Como pode o que tanto encanta, ao mesmo tempo, causar tanta dor?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“He met her with caution, and replied to her in his softest tones, as if there was a kind of gossamer happiness hanging in the air which he feared to disturb by drawing too deep a breath.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“Ci sarà, senza dubbio, chi mi biasimerà, chi mi dirà incontentabile. Ma non c'era nulla da fare. L'inquietudine era nella mia natura; e qualche volta mi agitava fino alla sofferenza.”
― Charlotte Bronte

“…soon after midnight, dawn comes.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Accustomed to instruct foreign girls, who hardly ever will think and study for themselves—who have no idea of grappling with a difficulty, and overcoming it by dint of reflection or application—our progress, which in truth was very leisurely, seemed to astound her. In her eyes, we were a pair of glacial prodigies, cold, proud, and preternatural.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“I read as much in your eye (beware, bye-the-bye, what you express with that organ; I am quick at interpreting its language).”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I hold another creed: which no one ever taught me, and which I seldom mention; but in which I delight, and to which I cling: for it extends hope to all: it makes Eternity a rest—a mighty home, not a terror and an abyss. Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime; I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last: with this creed revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low: I live in calm, looking to the end.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: The Original 1847 Unabridged and Complete Edition

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. ... I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation. . .”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“the story will sound somewhat hackneyed in your ears;”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre