Charlotte Brontë > Quotes

“and there is dishonest men plenty to guide them to the devil, scoundrels that reckons to be the ‘people’s friends,’ and that knows nought about the people, and is as insincere as Lucifer. I’ve lived aboon forty year in the world, and I believe that ‘the people’ will never have any true friends but theirseln and them two or three good folk i’ different stations that is friends to all the world. Human natur’, taking it i’ th’ lump, is nought but selfishness. It is but excessive few, it is but just an exception here and there, now and then, sich as ye two young uns and me, that, being in a different sphere, can understand t’ one t’ other, and be friends wi’out slavishness o’ one hand or pride o’ t’ other. Them that reckons to be friends to a lower class than their own fro’ political motives is never to be trusted; they always try to make their inferiors tools. For my own part, I will neither be patronized nor misled for no man’s pleasure. I’ve had overtures made to me lately that I saw were treacherous, and I flung ’em back i’ the faces o’ them that offered ‘em.”
― Charlotte Brontë, The Brontës Complete Works

“Not you. You told Mr. Brocklehurst I had a bad character, a deceitful disposition; and I’ll let everybody at Lowood know what you are, and what you have done.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I thought I had done my best ... but after a little reflection I determined ... to whether the storm - adversity is a good school ... I resolved to be patient - to command my feelings and take what came”
― Charlotte Brontë

“În ce mă privește, cu fiecare zi doream să-i plac mai mult; dar, pe zi ce trecea, simțeam că, spre a izbuti, ar fi trebuit să renunț treptat-treptat la firea mea, să-mi înăbuș talentele, să dau o altă îndrumare gusturilor mele, să mă străduiesc a-mi însuși idealul spre care, în chip firesc, nu simțeam nici o chemare. El voia să mă poarte spre înălțimi la care n-aș fi putut niciodată ajunge; ceas de ceas mă îndemna să năzuiesc spre culmea către care urca. Era imposibil să fac asemenea lucru, după cum era imposibil să-mi modelez trăsăturile neregulate după tiparul său ordonat și clasic, sau să dau ochilor mei verzi și schimbători strălucirea solemnă a ochilor săi albaștri ca marea.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Eu me preocupo comigo. Quanto mais solitária, quanto mais sem amigos, quanto menos apoio eu tiver, mais respeito terei por mim mesma. Vou cumprir a lei dada por Deus; sancionada pelos homens. Vou me fiar nos princípios recebidos por mim quando eu era sã, e não louca - como estou agora. As leis e os princípios não são para os momentos em que não há tentação: são para momentos como este, quando corpo e alma se levantam em motim contra o rigor deles; são severos; serão invioláveis. Se, por minha conveniência pessoal, eu os quebrasse, qual seria o valor deles? Têm um valor — sempre acreditei nisso; e se não posso acreditar agora, é porque estou insana, com fogo correndo nas veias e o coração. As opiniões que formei, as decisões que tomei, isso é tudo que tenho neste instante para me firmar: essa é minha base de apoio.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“What a still, hot, perfect day! What a golden desert this spreading moor! Everywhere sunshine. I wished I could live in it and on it. I saw a lizard run over the crag; I saw a bee busy among the sweet bilberries. I would fain at the moment have become bee or lizard, that I might have found fitting nutriment, permanent shelter here. But I was a human being, and had a human being’s wants: I must not linger where there was nothing to supply them. I rose; I looked back at the bed I had left. Hopeless of the future, I wished but this—that my Maker had that night thought good to require my soul of me while I slept; and that this weary frame, absolved by death from further conflict with fate, had now but to decay quietly, and mingle in peace with the soil of this wilderness. Life, however, was yet in my possession, with all its requirements, and pains, and responsibilities. The burden must be carried; the want provided for; the suffering endured; the responsibility fulfilled. I set out.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Ah! Jane. But I want a wife."
"Do you, sir?"
"Yes: is it news to you?"
"Of course: you said nothing about it before."
"Is it unwelcome news?"
"That depends on circumstances, sir--on your choice."
"Which you shall make for me, Jane. I will abide by your decision."
"Choose then, sir--her who loves you best."
"I will at least choose--her I love best. Jane, will you marry me?"
"Yes, sir.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“الحياة تبدو لى أقصر من أن نقضيها فى تذكر الظلم الذى عانينا منه فيما مضى”
― Charlotte Brontë

“But where are you going to, Helen? Can you see? Do you know?"

"I believe; I have faith: I am going to God."

"Where is God? What is God?"

"My Maker and yours, who will never destroy what He created. I rely implicitly on His power, and confide wholly in His goodness: I count the hours till that eventful one arrives which shall restore me to Him, reveal Him to me."

"You are sure, then, Helen, that there is such a place as heaven, and that our souls can get to it when we die?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned. Willingly”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me, I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I am not deceitful: if I were, I should say I loved you; but I declare I do not love you: I dislike you the worst of anybody in the world except John Reed; and this book about the liar, you may give to your girl, Georgiana, for it is she who tells lies, and not I.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Each picture told a story; mysterious often to my undeveloped understanding and imperfect feelings, yet ever profoundly interesting:”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“You had this morning a breakfast which you could not eat; you must be hungry:—I have ordered that a lunch of bread and cheese shall be served to all.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“The sky, too, was monotonously gray; the atmosphere was stagnant and humid; yet amidst all these deadening influences, my fancy budded fresh and my heart basked in sunshine. These feelings, however, were well kept in check by the secret but ceaseless consciousness of anxiety lying in wait on enjoyment, like a tiger crouched in a jungle. The breathing of that beast of prey was in my ear always; his fierce heart panted close against mine; he never stirred in his lair but I felt him: I knew he waited only for sun-down to bound ravenous from his ambush.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“Approaching quietly, she knelt on the carpet at her side, and looked over her little shoulder at her book. It was a romance of Mrs. Radcliffe’s— “The Italian.”
― Charlotte Brontë, The Brontës Complete Works

“... I took her on my knee, allowing her to prattle as she liked: not rebuking even some little freedoms and trivialities into which she was apt to stray when much noticed ...”
― Charlotte Brontë

“Sir,” I answered, “a wanderer’s repose or a sinner’s reformation should never depend on a fellow-creature. Men and women die; philosophers falter in wisdom, and Christians in goodness: if any one you know has suffered and erred, let him look higher than his equals for strength to amend and solace to heal.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I must begin a new existence among strange faces and strange scenes.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“We shall think you what you prove yourself to be, my child.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“La emoción sin juicio es como una bebida aguada, pero el juicio sin los matices que le aporta la emoción se convierte en un trago amargo e indigesto.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“The broad white road unrolled before the long procession, the sun and sky surveyed it cloudless, the wind tossed the tree boughs above it, and the twelve hundred children and one hundred and forty adults of which it was composed trod on in time and tune, with gay faces and glad hearts. It was a joyous scene, and a scene to do good. It was a day of happiness for rich and poor — the work, first of God, and then of the clergy. Let England’s priests have their due. They are a faulty set in some respects, being only of common flesh and blood like us all; but the land would be badly off without them. Britain would miss her church, if that church fell. God save it! God also reform it!”
― Charlotte Brontë, The Brontës Complete Works

“To be your wife is, for me, to be as happy as I can be on earth.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I am no bird, I'm a free human being' Jane Eyre”
― CharlotteBronte

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

“but I ought to forgive you, for you knew not what you did: while rending my heart-strings, you thought you were only uprooting my bad propensities.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Todo el conjuro que necesita son los ojos de una enamorada. Para ella sería usted lo más hermoso que se pudiera desear.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Es un trabajo arduo controlar las inclinaciones y doblegar las propensiones de la naturaleza, pero sé por experiencia que puede hacerse. Dios nos ha dado, hasta cierto punto, el poder de forjar nuestro propio destino. Cuando nuestra energía parece exigir un sustento imposible de conseguir, cuando nuestra voluntad se inclina hacia un camino que no podemos seguir, no tenemos que morirnos de hambre ni desesperarnos sin reaccionar. Solo tenemos que buscar otro alimento para la mente, tan nutritivo como las viandas prohibidas que anhelábamos probar, y quizás más puro, y labrar para los pies inquietos un camino tan recto y ancho, aunque más rugoso, como el que nos ha construido la Fortuna.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“-Jane, reluă el, umilința e temelia tuturor virtuților creștinești. Ai dreptate să spui că nu ești vrednică de această muncă. Dar cine e vrednic oare? Oare cei care au fost într-adevăr chemați de Dumnezeu s-au socotit vreodată vrednici de acea chemare? Eu, de pildă, nu sunt decât țărână și cenușă și, la fel ca apostolul Pavel, recunosc în mine pe cel mai mare dintre păcătoși; dar nu vreau să fiu împiedicat de acest sentiment al nevredniciei mele. Îmi cunosc stăpânul. E tot atât de drept, pe cât e de puternic, și, deoarece și-a ales o unealtă slabă pentru îndeplinirea unei fapte mari, va înlocui lipsurile mele prin bogățiile nesfârșite ale proniei sale. Gândește așa cum gândesc eu, Jane, și ai încredere cum am și eu. Îți cer să te reazemi pe stânca veacurilor; nu te îndoi că va putea susține povara slîbiciunii tale omenești.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre