Frankenstein

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.

To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation,

but the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity.

I am fearless, and therefore powerful.

Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.

but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself.