Quotes by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

“Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be small, but bound close ...”

“I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacl...”

“The course of the Rhine below Mainz becomes much more picturesque. The river descends rapidly and winds between hills, not high, but steep, and of beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standi...”

“There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite them only closer in bonds of devoted affection.”

“My life, as it passes thus, was indeed hateful to me, and it was during sleep alone that I could taste joy. O blessed sleep!”

“I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation, but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”

“I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne away by them, and forgetti...”

“Now I am twenty-eight, and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen. It is true that I have thought more, and that my day dreams are more extended and magnificent; but they wan...”

“But in truth, neither the lonely meditations of the hermit nor the turmulos raptures of the reveller, are capable of satisfying mans heart. From the one we gather unquiet speculation, from the othe...”

“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”

“Yes," she thought, "nature is the refuge and home for women: they have no public careerno aim nor end beyond their domestic circle; but they can extend that, and make all the creations of nature th...”

“What do you mean? What do you demand of your captain? Are you then so easily turned from your design? Did you not call this a glorious expedition? And wherefore was it glorious? Not because the way...”

“Of what a strange nature is knowledge! It clings to a mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on a rock." - Frankenstein p115”

“For the first time she knew and loved the Spirit of good and beauty, an affinity to which affords the greatest bliss that our nature can receive.”

“nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose”

“My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading.”

“A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study.”

“You have not studied the histories of ancient times, and perhaps know not the life that breathes in them; a soul of beauty and wisdom which had penetrated my heart of hearts.”

“Volume II, Chapter 4"How unwise had the wanderers been, who had deserted its shelter, entangled themselves in the web of society, and entered on what men of the world call "life,"that labyrinth of ...”

“Plutarch taught me high thoughts; he elevated me above the wretched sphere of my own reflections, to admire and love the heroes of past ages. Many things I read surpassed my understanding and exper...”