Charlotte Brontë > Quotes

“He made me love him without looking at me.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Silence is of different kinds, and breathes different meanings.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“Friendship however is a plant which cannot be forced -- true friendship is no gourd spring up in a night and withering in a day.”
― Charlotte Brontë, The Letters of Charlotte Brontë

“I thank my Maker, that in the midst of judgment he has remembered mercy. I humbly entreat my Redeemer to give me strength to lead henceforth a purer life than I have done hitherto.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“You, Jane, I must have you for my own--entirely my own.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“Then you and I should bid good-bye for a little while?"
I suppose so, sir."
And how do people perform that ceremony of parting, Jane? Teach me; I'm not quite up to it."
They say, Farewell, or any other form they prefer."
Then say it."
Farewell, Mr. Rochester, for the present."
What must I say?"
The same, if you like, sir."
Farewell, Miss Eyre, for the present; is that all?"
Yes."
It seems stingy, to my notions, and dry, and unfriendly. I should like something else: a little addition to the rite. If one shook hands for instance; but no--that would not content me either. So you'll do nothing more than say Farwell, Jane?"
It is enough, sir; as much good-will may be conveyed in one hearty word as in many."
Very likely; but it is blank and cool--'Farewell.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“I'll walk where my own nature would be leading. It vexes me to choose another guide.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“A beauty neither of fine colour nor long eyelash, nor pencilled brow, but of meaning, of movement, of radiance.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer, and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.”
― Charlotte Bronte

“I am paving hell with energy... I am laying down good intentions which I believe durable as flint.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“No reflection was to be allowed now, not one glance was to be cast back; not even one forward. Not one thought was to be given either to the past or the future. The first was a page so heavenly sweet, so deadly sad, that to read one line of it would dissolve my courage and break down my energy. The last was an awful blank, something like then world when the deluge was gone by.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Jane: Mr. Rochester, if ever I did a good deed in my life-if ever I thought a good thought-if ever I prayed a sincere and blameless prayer-if ever I wished a righteous wish-I am rewarded now. To be your wife is, for me, to be as happy as I can be on earth.
Mr. Rochester: Because you delight in sacrifice.
Jane: Sacrifice! What do I sacrifice? Famine for food, expectation for content. To be privileged to put my arms round what I value-to press my lips to what I love-to repose on what I trust: is that to make a sacrifice? If so, then certainly I delight in sacrifice.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“Make my happiness--I will make yours.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts — when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: 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. (Mr Rochester to Jane)”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Jane, I never meant to wound you thus...Will you ever forgive me?"

Reader, I forgave him at the moment and on the spot.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“Mademoiselle is a fairy," he said, whispering mysteriously.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“Oh! that gentleness! how far more potent is it than force!”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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 you, and you wanted to read the tablet of one's heart.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“What necessity is there to dwell on the Past, when the Present is so much surer-the Future so much brighter?”
― 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

“To talk to each other is but a more animated and an audible thinking.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

“I envy you your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory. Little girl, a memory without blot of contamination must be an exquisite treasure-an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment: is it not?”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Intelligence and proper education will give you independence of spirit.”
― Charlotte Bronte

“Wise people say it is folly to think anybody perfect; and as to likes and dislikes, we should be friendly to all, and worship none”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“It is a very strange sensation to inexperience youth to feel itself quite alone the world, cut adrift from every connection, uncertain whether the port to which it is bound can be reached, and prevented by many impediments from returning to that it has quitted. The charm of adventure sweetens that sensation, the glow of pride warms it; but then the throb of fear disturbs it; and fear with me became predominant when half an hour elapsed, and still I was alone.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Friends always forget those whom fortune forsakes.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I knew you would do me good in some way, at some time--I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you.”
― Charlotte Brontë

“Peril, loneliness, an uncertain future, are not oppressive evils, so long as the frame is healthy and the faculties are employed; so long, especially, as Liberty lends us her wings, and Hope guides us by her star.”
― Charlotte Bronte, Villette

“The eagerness of a listener quickens the tongue of a narrator.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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." - Helen Burns”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre