A Set of Quotations (Writing Process Pt 4/9)

Jane Eyre: A Set of Quotations

“Ere I had finished this reply my soul began to expand, to exult, with the strangest sense of freedom, of triumph, I ever felt.  It seemed as if an invisible bond had burst, and that I had struggled out into unhoped-for liberty.” (30)

“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…” (93)

“He is not of your order; keep to your caste; and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would soon be despised.” (138)

“Glad was I to get him out of the silk warehouse, and then out of the jeweler’s shop: the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation.” (229)

 “I could not, in those days, see God for his creature, of whom I had made an idol.” (234)

“ ‘Let it be torn away then!’ I cried.  ‘Let another help me!’ ‘No; you shall tear yourself away, none shall help you: you shall, yourself, pluck out your right eye: yourself cut off your right hand: your heart shall be the victim; and you, the priest, to transfix it.” (254)

 “Conqueror I might be of the house, but the inmate would escape to heaven before I could call myself possessor of its clay dwelling-place.  And it is you, spirit, with will and energy, and virtue and purity, that I want; not alone your brittle frame.” (271)

“Wholly untaught, with faculties quite torpid, they seemed to me hopelessly dull; and, at first sigh, all dull alike: but I soon found I was mistaken.” (311)

“…is not the occupation he now offers me truly the most glorious man can adopt or God assign?  Is it not, by its noble cares and sublime results, the one best calculated to fill the void left by uptorn affections and demolished hopes?” (344)

“ ‘Formerly,’ I answered, ‘because you did not love me; now, I reply because you almost hate me.  If I were to marry you, you would kill me.  You are killing me now.” (351)

“He is a good and a great man: but he forgets, pitilessly, the feelings and claims of little people, in pursuing his own large views.” (354)

“I will be your neighbor, your nurse, your housekeeper.  I find you lonely; I will be your companion—to read to you, to walk with you, to sit with you, to wait on you, to be eyes and hands to you.” (370)

“Reader, it was on Monday night, near midnight, that I, too, had received the mysterious summons; those were the very words by which I had replied to.  …I kept these things, then, and pondered them in my heart.” (381)