Of an artistic temperament, I deny that I am; yet I must possess something of the artist's faculty of making the most of present pleasure.
Night was come, and her planets were risen: a safe, still night: too serene for the companionship of fear.
Monsieur, if a wife's nature loathes that of the man she is wedded to, marriage must be slavery. Against slavery all right thinkers revolt, and though torture be the price of resistance, torture must...
I doubt if I have made the best use of all my calamities. Soft, amiable natures they would have refined to saintliness; of strong, evil spirits they would have made demons; as for me, I have only been...
[O]ur honeymoon will shine our life long: its beams will only fade over your grave or mine.
When you are inquisitive, Jane, you always make me smile. You open your eyes like an eager bird, and make every now and then a restless movement, as if answers in speech did not flow fast enough for y...
Your dress is thin, you have been dancing, you are heated. Always preaching, retorted she; always coddling and admonishing. The answer Dr. John would have given did not come; that his heart was hurt b...
You are no ruin sir--no lighting-struck tree: you are green and vigorous. Plants will grow about your roots, whether you ask them or not, because they take delight in your bountiful shadow; and as the...
Beauty is given to dolls, majesty to haughty vixens, but mind, feeling, passion and the crowning grace of fortitude are the attributes of an angel.
Poetry destroyed? Genius banished? No! Mediocrity, no: do not let envy prompt you to the thought. No; they not only live, but reign, and redeem: and without their divine influence spread everywhere, y...
Oh, mention it! If I storm, you have the art of weeping.Mr. Rochester, I must leave you.For how long, Jane? For a few minutes, while you smooth your hair — which is somewhat dishevelled; and bathe you...
Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break...
This pure little drop from a pure little source was too sweet: it penetrated deep, and subdued the heart
Graham’s thoughts of me were not entirely those of a frozen indifference, after all. I believe in that goodly mansion, his heart, he kept one little place under the skylights where Lucy might have ent...
A lover finds his mistress asleep on a mossy bank; he wishes to catch a glimpse of her fair face without waking her. He steals softly over the grass, careful to make no sound; he pauses -- fancying sh...
God surely did not create us, and cause us to live, with the sole end of wishing always to die. I believe, in my heart, we were intended to prize life and enjoy it, so long as we retain it. Existence...
His veins were dark with a vivid belladonna tincture, the essence of jealousy.
It is a pity that doing one's best does not always answer.
But if I feel, may I never express? Never! declared Reason.I groaned under her bitter sternness. Never - never - oh, hard word! This hag, this Reason, would not let me look up, or smile, or hope; she...
And it is you, spirit--with will and energy, and virtue and purity--that I want, not alone with your brittle frame.