Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

"My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol."

"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 them, what would be their worth?"

"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, you would be in hell--the hell of your own meanness."

"Why, then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness – to glory?"

"I know that a stranger's hand will write to me next, to say that the good and faithful servant has been called at length into the joy of his Lord. And why weep for this? No fear of death will darken St. John's last hour: his mind will be unclouded; his heart will be undaunted; his hope will be sure; his faith steadfast. His own words are a pledge of this: “My Master,” he says, “has forewarned me. Daily he announces more distinctly, ‘Surely I come quickly!’ and hourly I more eagerly respond, ‘Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!"

"God waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward. Why, then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness -- to glory?"

"Renewed hope followed renewed effort: It shone like the former for some weeks, then, like it, faded, flickered: Not a line, not a word reached me. When half a year wasted in vain expectancy, my hope died out, and then I felt dark indeed."

"You, sir, are the most phantom-like of all; you are a mere dream"

"You are going, Jane"I am going, sir."You are leaving me"Yes."You will not come? You will not be my comforter, my rescuer? My deep love, my wild woe, my frantic prayer, are all nothing to you"What unutterable pathos was in his voice! How hard was it to reiterate firmly, "I am going!"Jane!"Mr. Rochester."Withdraw then, I consent; but remember, you leave me here in anguish. Go up to your own room, think over all I have said, and, Jane, cast a glance on my sufferings; think of me."He turned away, he threw himself on his face on the sofa. "Oh, Jane! my hope, my love, my life!" broke in anguish from his lips. Then came a deep, strong sob."

"And it is you, spirit--with will and energy, and virtue and purity--that I want, not alone with your brittle frame."

"I see you and St. John have been quarrelling, Jane,' said Diana, 'during your walk on the moor. But go after him; he is now lingering in the passage expecting you - he will make it up.'I have not much pride under such circumstances: I would always rather be happy than dignified; and I ran after him - he stood at the foot of the stairs."

"Self abandoned, relaxed and effortless, I seemed to have laid me down in the dried-up bed of a great river; I heard a flood loosened in remote mountains, I felt the torrent come; to rise I had no will, to flee I had no strength."

"We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us; and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence."

"I have been wrongly accused; and you, ma'am, and everybody else, will now think me wicked."We shall think you what you prove yourself to be, my child. Continue to act as a good girl, and you will satisfy us."

"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded: appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is – I repeat it – a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them."

"No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer."And what is hell? Can you tell me that"A pit full of fire."And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever"No, sir."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."

"There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort."

"Jane, be still; don't struggle so like a wild, frantic bird, that is rending its own plumage in its desperation."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."

"[O]ur honeymoon will shine our life long: its beams will only fade over your grave or mine."

"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last."