Jane Eyre Quotes

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. 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: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth—so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane—quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I have for the first time found what I can truly love- I have found you”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“There, you are less than civil now; and I like rudeness a great deal better than flattery. I had rather be a thing than an angel.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“—Señor, no creo que tenga usted derecho a mandarme por el mero hecho de ser mayor que yo o porque haya visto más mundo; la superioridad dependerá del uso que haya hecho usted de su edad y experiencia.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“It is in vain to say human beings are to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot. Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“I have something in my brain and heart, in my blood and nerves, that assimilates me mentally to him. Did I say, a few days since, that I had nothing to do with him but to receive my salary at his hands? Did I forbid myself to think of him in any other light than as a paymaster? Blasphemy against nature! Every good, true, vigorous feeling I have gathers impulsively round him. I know I must conceal my sentiments; I must smother hope; I must remember that he cannot care much for me. For when I say that I am of his kind, I do not mean that I have his force to influence, and his spell to attract; I mean only that I have certain tastes and feelings in common with him. I must, then, repeat continually that we are for ever sundered; - and yet, while I breathe and think, I must love him.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“--that then I longed for a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life I had heard of but never seen: that then I desired more of practical experience than I possessed; more of intercourse with my kind, of acquaintance with variety of character, than was here within my reach.”
― 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 Brontë, Jane Eyre

“if people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Do you know where the wicked go after death?"
"They go to hell, was my ready and orthodox answer.
. . .
"What must you do to avoid it?"
I deliberated a moment; my answer, when it did come was objectionable: " I must keep in good health , and not die.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“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 Brontë, Jane Eyre

“Well has Solomon said-"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." I would not now have exchanged Lowood with all its privations, for Gateshead and its daily luxuries”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre