14 Unforgettable Quotes from the book Jane Eyre

English writer Charlotte Brontë's famous novel, Jane Eyre, was first published in 1847 under a male pseudonym, "Currer Bell". Over 170 years have passed since then, but it has remained as a favourite classic for many women— after all, the thought processes of our intelligent 18-year-old heroine never fail to mesmerize us.

Anyway, here are some of my favourite quotes from the book, Jane Eyre.

"Women are supposed to feel 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 that custom has pronounced in necessary for their sex."

"Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive."

"I don't think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience."

"It is not violence that best overcomes hate--nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury."

"I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me to do so. I need not sell my soul to buy bliss. I have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price I cannot afford to give."

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will."

"Reason sits firm and holds the reins, and she will not let the feelings burst away and hurry her to wild chasms. The passions may rage furiously, like true heathens, as they are; but judgement shall still have the last word in every argument, and the casting vote in every decision. Strong wind, earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall still follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience."

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones."

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

"I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading. It vexes me to choose another guide."

"It is in vain to say human beings ought 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."

"If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends."

"Do you think I am an automaton?—A machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you,—and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;—it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal,—as we are!"

"I have for the first time found what I can truly love – I have found you. You are my sympathy – my better self – my good angel – I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wrap my existence about you–and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one."

There are many more beautiful statements included in this novel, and if you'd like to explore classic literature, I'd highly recommend this book.